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dragonfatewriting · 2 years ago

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Officer Peeps and Yipper’s great chase.

Author’s notes: Hello there been a while eh? Well things happen and yeah been writing but not much uploading. Oh well. Anyway this is a fanfic of @z-t00n Pompom comics. I talked to z-toon a while back ago and they said they were cool with fanfics and while it did take me a while I did mange to write a fic that hopefully shows how much I appreciate their work. I wanted this to be a homage of sorts and tried my best to include as many of their Pompom characters as cameos at the very least.

It should also be noted that this being a fan work, it has no official connection to the comics or the author in question. The characters are theirs and I of course claim no ownership whatsoever. I also tried my best to keep in the spirit of said works and this fic contains no actual dialogue so sorry if it seems a long read.

That being said I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think!

It was a peaceful day in the great city of Unnamed city. The birds were singing - this included officer Peeps who truly showed that great singing was in fact not a biological thing among all avian - the sun had shown them mercy and decided not to crash into the planet on this day.

The plush bird was patrolling the area on claw-foot, a cup of coffee in his hand-wing and watching all the good citizens and families go about their day. Peeps knew in his fluffy body that today was going to be the perfect day and he was going to savor it to the fullest. This thought came to him as he was passing by a bank and once the thought had finished the short distance across his brain, an alarm rang out.

The building literally came to life giving small hops in place as an alarm blared within it. Peeps and everyone around the building came to a halt as they stared in surprise. The doors to the bank were flung open and a figure shot out of it, running on all fours with a bag in its mouth. The master burglar Yipper raced past officer Peeps purposefully hitting the bird, causing him to spin and his drink flung into the air.

Yipper raced down the sidewalk, laughing to himself as he made off with his haul. Meanwhile officer Peeps managed to recover from his spinning just in time to have his coffee fall on top of his fluffy head. There was a single moment of silence as the coffee soaked into his uniform and plush body. The officer began to turn red in seething anger, a fire lit up in his eyes and he zeroed in on the retreating form of Yipper.

The officer jumped yelling in anger, steam coming off of him, evaporating the coffee before he gave chase. A dust cloud formed behind him as the citizens watched him disappear and give chase to the dastardly criminal.

The great chase was on!

Yipper couldn’t help chuckling to himself. He had just pulled off another successful heist, stealing just enough to finish that money sculpture of himself. It was going to be his best work of art yet, something that had even him in awe. On top of all that he had even sent that annoying cop on a spin trip, Yipper would not forget the look on that annoying bird brain’s face. Today was looking perfect for the dastardly burglar.

Suddenly Yipper’s ears picked up a strange sound. He lifted one of his ears up and tilted his head to hear it better. The sound was getting louder and louder, Yipper swore it sounded like a steam train coming right at him. The alien dog looked behind him in confusion only to be met with a very angry officer Peeps barreling down the road towards him. The officer was bright red and clearly not in a good mood. He was holding a baton in his wing-hand and blowing a whistle that sounded like the whistle of a train, it was even blowing out steam.

In short the officer looked like he was going to kill Yipper.

The officer caught sight of the dog and Yipper could feel his one eye bulge out of his socket as the officer’s claw-feet turned into train wheels and he began running even faster. Yipper, knowing danger when he saw it, decided to high-tail it. He had seen the cop angry before but he must have really yanked the chain hard this time.

The officer and burglar barreled down the sidewalk, citizens moving out of their way as the two paid them no mind, focused on getting away or catching the other. One citizen, an elderly cat lady, was having trouble crossing the street. Cars were speeding down the road and the light would change for only a second before the cars would start again. The cat lady looked around in distress, if only there was an upstanding young person who could help her this time.

It was at that moment that Peeps and Yipper were making their chase down the sidewalk. The cat lady spotted them and oblivious to their situation, cheered up. Ah, there was an upstanding young person, surely they would help her in her blight. The cat lady lifted a hand-paw and began waving to the dangerous duo, running right towards her. Yipper, who was in the lead, raced past the cat lady bumping into her at a speed which caused her to start spinning. Peeps in hot pursuit and completely focused on the burglar, accidentally kicked the lady and flung her into the air. Thankfully a cat always lands on their feet-paws and the cat lady landed right across the street.

She got up and waved to the oblivious duo, simply happy to have made it across the street. However before she resumed her walk, she noticed that her purse was missing. That was odd, she could have swore she had it before she crossed the street.

Yipper, now with a small purse around his neck, decided he could try and lose the officer in the park. The park was filled with people on this perfect day who suddenly had to get out of the way as a certain officer and thief made their war path. The burglar spotted a playground and gave a sly smile, the officer could not hope to keep up with him there. The alien dog ran to the playset and up the slide, bumping several children out of the way. Peeps shortly following behind and attempting to run up the slide, only to slip and fall on his face.

Yipper couldn’t help but to look back and laugh at the dumb officer. This only enraged Peeps further and with his new found anger, he got up and slammed his claw-foot into the slide puncturing it. He proceeded to make his way up the slide at a frankly terrifying pace. Yipper once again felt his eye bulge and decided it was best to resume running.

Yipper turned and ran, noticing a rope bridge and making his way across it with Peeps following after finally reaching the top of the slide. However when Peeps attempted to run across the rope bridge, the poor frail ropes couldn’t take it anymore and broke under the weight of the fluffy cop. Peeps was sent plunging three whole feet down. Yipper snickered as he slide down another slide, having witnessed the dumb cop take a fall, now he couldn’t catch him.

That thought abruptly ended when Yipper made it to the end of the slide and was face to face with an angry officer who had simply gotten up and walked around the playset. Yipper gave a short nervous wave to Peeps - who was lightly tapping his baton into his wing-hand - before running back up the slide, he had just gone down.

This continued on for some time with the two making their way around the playground, climbing on the rock wall, swinging across the monkey bars, playing a rousing game of chess before Peeps flipped the board. Several children watched as the two rushed around the playground in a huge dust cloud before the poor playset couldn’t handle it anymore and collapsed under their weight with a groan.

As the soul of the poor playground equipment went up to the great park in the sky, Yipper managed to crawl his way out and began running once again. Peeps suddenly sprang from the rubble and the chase resumed, ignoring the crying of several children.

A skeleton man with a cool pair of shades glanced in the direction of all the noise and swore he heard the sounds of crying and the death of playground equipment. Eh, the skeleton shrugged, nothing he hadn’t heard on a Tuesday before. Bones, who was leaning against a swing set, turned to look at his roommate Johnny and wondered if he should say something.

He once again gave a shrug, too much work and besides Johnny was busy pushing Pompom on the swings. The little clown kept insisting on going higher and Johnny was trying his best but was also worried about hurting the clown as well.

It was a peaceful scene and one that would have remained as such if it wasn’t for that loud noise getting suspiciously closer and closer. Bones once again lifted his sunglasses and noticed the tornado that was officer Peeps and Yipper heading right towards them. However before the lazy bones could even think to warn his friend about the incoming storm, it was already on top of them.

The disaster duo sped right past them, knocking Johnny back and bumping right into the swing that Pompom was on, sending it into a spiral that rocked the entire swing set. The swing went faster and faster until eventually Pompom - who was having a great time by the way - was sent flying into the stratosphere.

The cop and burglar continued on their destructive way, taking no notice of Johnny who was staring at the sky in frozen horror as his clown son was sent into space. Bones casually walked over to Johnny and began to laugh as the humor of the situation set into his bones. Before Johnny could smack the skeleton’s head clean off, the swingset gave one final groan and fell over landing directly on Bones, breaking the skeleton. Johnny could do nothing but sigh and maybe laugh a little at his roommate's karma.

(Pompom would later return home after an exciting adventure, crashing into a UFO and almost being dissected by aliens who found Pompom much too terrifying to understand. Johnny would breathe a sigh of relief when Pompom was dropped through the roof of their house, landing on his lap by said UFO. Bones, while happy to see Johnny in better sprites, couldn’t help wishing the aliens had kept Pompom just a day longer.)

Yipper turned and looked back at the officer still hot on his heels, he really really must have yanked the chain hard if the bird brain was still keeping up with him. The thief turned his head back around just in time to notice the ice cream cart he was about to crash into. Running on an instinct that only a seasoned alien dog burglar could possess, he jumped onto the ice cream cart and used the momentum to ride the cart.

Freezy could only watch as her beloved ice cream cart was hijacked by a weird dog riding on top of it. She had been making a killing on the sales too and still had a line of people in front of her, waiting for ice cream. Peeps soon followed, pausing to shyly tip his hat to Freezy with a blush on his face before he resumed chasing Yipper.

Freezy just looked at the retreating couple before turning back to the long line of disappointed ice cream fans who could no longer purchase the frozen treat. Freezy wondering if there was anything she could do, notice a single scoop of chocolate ice cream on the ground. She held up her finger in a one second gesture to the crowd before disappearing with the ice cream.

Freezy later returned with a giant ice cream monster, brought to life by the dark arts. She took payments for folks to jump on and devour her monster ice cream to their heart’s content. It was a massive success until everyone began to transform into ice cream zombies but that is a story for another time.

Yipper was happily licking up ice cream as the cart sped out of the park, he turned to see if he finally lost the cop. Much to his surprise Peeps was actually keeping up, he wasn’t as close as before but it was still annoying to have him on his tail, he needed to get to his hideout after all. That was when the dastardly hound got an idea.

He threw the ice cream he was holding, hoping to trip the stupid cop up. Instead of slipping up however the officer began using the ice cream as a roller skate to catch up with the speeding thief. Yipper’s one eye bulged out of his socket again and he slapped a hand to his forehead in annoyance, he swore this officer was shortening his already small doggy life span.

Yipper, now more annoyed than ever, continued to throw ice cream at Peeps. Peeps to his credit, managed to dodge several scoops even managing to get another ice cream roller skate, that still didn’t stop him from taking a few to the face however. While Peeps was either eating the ice cream or having it melt under his angry determination to catch Yipper, the pair passed a particular alleyway.

Leaving ice cream in their path, the duo failed to notice several cat creatures poking their heads out of trash cans. The cat monsters noticed the delicious ice cream and came out in a hoard to lap it all up. Eventually many of the cats, including a particularly round one, figured out there must be a source for the ice cream. The round cat gave a meow and like a call to action, all the cats in the vicinity banded together to chase down the runaway ice cream cart. Before any of the citizen’s knew it, a storm of monster cats had joined the chase.

The cart was out of control as it sped up and down hills, running over anyone and anything in its way. The thief seemed unaware of this, too focused on trying to slip up a certain officer, he wasn't aware of the cart racing towards a particular restaurant.

Chef Budge was just putting the finishing touches on his latest masterpiece, a seafood mushroom truffle cake. He made it after weeks of searching and killing for the perfect ingredients, it was gonna be a big hit in his restaurant and he would be damned if anyone ruined this for him. He had been so focused he didn’t notice the screams and citizens running outside the restaurant but he did hear the sudden crashing noise.

He gave an angry growl and rushed to the front of the restaurant, slamming open the double doors to confront the fool ruining his moment. Suddenly what looked to be an ice cream cart with a dog on top of it, slammed into the poor chef, running him over and entering the kitchen. Before the chef could get up, a cop on ice cream roller skates rolled over him, covering him in a trial of ice cream.

(Chef recognized the flavor as raspberry tangerine, his least favorite ice cream flavor.)

The two of them rushed around the kitchen, grabbing pans and smacking the other with it, Yipper managed to grab some sausage links and wrapped it around himself wanting to snack on them later. The two rushed around the countertop, the same countertop that had the chef’s truffle cake on it. Budge quickly got up and ran over in an attempt to save his creation.

He was able to dodge the pair of idiots, wreaking havoc in his kitchen and was just about to grab the cake when a rogue pan went flying and smacked the back of the chef’s head. He dropped the cake back onto the countertop, miraculously the cake was fine but the same could not be said for the chef’s anger.

Finally unable to take it anymore, he turned to the oblivious idiots and let out a terrifying yell that could be heard from miles around. Yipper and Peeps stopped their chase, both frozen in mid air with Yipper posed to throw more ice cream and Peeps about to whack him with a pan. The cart itself seemed scared and showing wisdom that neither Peeps or Yipper possessed, gave a squeak before turning around and rolling out of the restaurant as fast as its wheels could manage.

Before leaving however, Yipper threw the ice cream at Peeps who ducked out of the way. The ice cream found a home right on top of the truffle cake.

Peeps sensing the danger he was in quickly gave a nervous tip of the hat and rushed out to again give chase to the dog burglar. The chef stared at his creation thoughtfully giving it a quick taste test, he found it to be delicious, the ice cream turned out to be exactly what it needed. He smiled and fist bumped the air but his victory was short lived as he felt an odd rumbling.

It shook the restaurant and before the chef could figure out what it was, hundreds of monster cats suddenly swarmed the restaurant, having followed the ice cream trail. Chef was suddenly covered in a sea of furry monstrosities, licking him and drowning him. The cats eventually continued on their way, taking the poor chef with them as he was swept along. Pixel, also riding the wave, grabbed the cake and held it up in victory as the cats moved out of the restaurant.

Both Peeps and Yipper were bruised, covered in ice cream, and both were tired but they were also too stubborn and in some people’s opinion too stupid to stop now. Yipper still had the bag of money, the purse, and the sausage links from chef Budge’s restaurant. He was not giving up with the haul he had on him even if it would kill him, which was a real possibility with the next obstacle coming up.

It was gonna be a glorious day, a day that would go down in history as Skidd Mccrash would finally complete the ultimate dare devil challenge. The obstacle course was insane, thought up by a fellow daredevil who was going mad with stunts, it had never been attempted before. It had jumps, loops, rings of fire, spinning blades and chainsaws. as well as a quiz game that tested basic knowledge. It will be the raddest, most hardcore specticle that this city will ever have the fortunate to bear witness to. A crowd had formed waiting to see if this ended in victory or carnage, either way they would get their afternoon’s worth of entertainment.

Circuit and his two coworkers were already on the scene with Circuit reporting and his blue coworker handling the camera. The red reptile was taking notes and would occasionally get bored and eat the pages of said notebook, apparently each page had its own unique flavor. Circuit had already interviewed Mccrash and now everyone was just waiting for the signal that Mccrash could go as he revved up his motorcycle ready to make history.

The countdown had just begun with the crowd joining in chanting ten…nine…eight…

Circuit was practically humming with excitement as the countdown continued, nobody seemed to notice a runaway car and officer heading in their direction. Just as the countdown finished and Mccrash was about to hit the gas, an ice cream cart carrying an alien dog burglar sped past him along with an officer.

Yipper had just turned around to see where exactly the cart was going just in time to see a massive and deadly looking obstacle course. This time he swore his eye did leave his socket as it bulged out at the massive structure that he was currently heading towards. Well he thought, now is a good time to get started on that will. He pulled out a piece of paper and pen from the purse and began writing.

Everyone watched in disbelief and morbid curiosity as what looked to be a weird dog and officer Peeps sped through the obstacle course. They raced around loops, jumped through rings of fire though just barely as Yipper wiped the sweat off his brow only to realize that his ears were on fire. Peeps meanwhile had to put out his hat to mixed success as his wing caught on fire as well. Thankfully the water gun section put out the fire even if they both ended up very wet.

Circuit gestured to keep the cameras rolling as the duo went through the spinning blades and chainsaws. Yipper nearly gets completely shaved and officer Peeps comes out with a spiffy new haircut. They had just reached the end of the quiz game - Peeps getting hung up on the basic math portion and Yipper’s answer to everything was just steal it, the cart passed with flying colors - and were coming up to the final jump. The jump was the biggest one yet and in order to make it, one had to leap over thirty buses all stacked on top of each other.

(The buses were thinking of unionizing after this stunt was done.)

Everyone watched as Peeps still on ice cream roller skates seemed to get a second wind and was catching up to the cart. Peeps reached his wing-hand out and finally managed to grab the cart. A feat he was very proud of until they were launched into space.

Both Yipper and Peeps felt weightless as they hung in the air for a concerning amount of time, it wasn’t until a satellite passed them did they think to look down. I think that is the Earth was the thought that crossed both of their tiny minds before they looked back up at each other. Gravity suddenly woke up and remembered what it was supposed to do just in time for Yipper and Peeps to hug each other as they hurtled back down to Earth.

The crowd and Circuit meanwhile were watching the sky to see if they could catch sight of the duo. Finally someone yelled and pointed at the sky, everyone squinted as they saw a square figure hurtling towards the planet. The ice cream cart from before was coming down at a frankly concerning speed and many wondered if they should start running when they suddenly felt a rumbling.

Finally tearing their eyes away from the ice cream cart meteorite - a tough feat to be fair - everyone turned to see an absolutely terrifying storm of monster cats heading right for them. Everyone turned to run with the exception of Circuit who could not believe his luck as he got to witness these wonderful creatures all at once. Both his coworkers tried to get his attention before finally shrugging to each and running for their lives. Circuit would be fine, the guy certainly seemed happy enough.

One of the cats pointed to the sky where their ice cream deity was falling back down to Earth for them. Pixel gave a meow and nodded, the cats knowing what must be done overran the obstacle course, destroying everything in their path as they formed a pillar to reach the cart. Using the course to their advantage they created a huge tower of cats under the cart, it was a beautiful and yet horrifying sight to behold.

The cart landed right on top of the tower, the cats sagged under the weight of the ice cream carrier but the cats were stubborn and soon the cart finally came to a stop.

They let out a triumphant meow as they finally had their prize and the tower slowly came down as the creatures ransacked the cart. Circuit watching in awe, he was in heaven as cats surrounded him, he wished he had more arms so he could pet them all. He eventually spotted his own cat Pixel who was still carrying the truffle cake. Circuit overjoyed extended his arms, picked up his pet and began burying his face in their fur, cake still in their fluffy paws.

Circuit eventually snapped out of his euphoria as he heard a groan at his feet, looking down he saw that it was none other than his boyfriend chef Budge. Budge did not look like he was having a good time, his clothes were ripped and wet with cat saliva, he had lost his hat and he didn’t have a chance to try out his latest masterpiece.

Circuit looked down at the poor chef, happy to see him but also very concerned. It was then he noticed the cake in Pixel’s paws, he snapped his fingers as he got an idea. Using his mouth, he removed one of his gloves, revealing his sharp robot claws and with a quick precise swipe, Circuit cut the cake. He grabbed one of the pieces and leaned down, setting Pixel on the ground, who proceeded to walk off to share the cake with his fellow cat brethren.

Circuit helped the chef into a sitting position and handed him the slice of cake, Budge proceeded to eat the slice still in a bit of a daze. He finally snapped out of it and saw the smiling face of his boyfriend who waved at him. Budge looked around, still a bit confused as to why he was in the middle of what looked to be a huge disaster with monster cats all around him. Circuit just patted him on the shoulder and helped him get back on his feet. Budge watched as his cake was being devoured and just sighed.

He had a long day and at least someone was appreciating his masterpiece even if it was a bunch of cats.

He watched as Circuit was surrounded by a hoard of cats, most of them seemed familiar with the reporter who looked like he was in heaven as they purred and rubbed up against him. He tried his best to cuddle as many as he could and as scary as they looked it was a kinda adorable sight. The chef couldn’t remember the last time he saw his boyfriend this happy. Seeing him overjoyed was a nice consolation prize the chef thought to himself finishing his cake.

Meanwhile the duo that had started this whole mess were currently hurtling back down to Earth. Both of them really didn’t like that this was going to be the way they died but so be it. As they got closer to the planet, they both closed their eyes - one eye in Yipper’s case - and said their final prayers as they both crashed and landed right in the police department.

Both of them saw stars as they slowly got up from their adventure, Yipper no longer had the bag of money, purse or sausage links.

(All of them had fallen back down to their respective owners, the cat lady got her purse back in time to finish her shopping. The bag of money landed right in the bank owner’s arms as they were talking to the other officers. Budge meanwhile had some sausage links land right on his head as he was watching Circuit. The cats proceeded to swarm him and it took Circuit’s help to get him out with minor scratches.)

Eventually both the thief and officer snapped out of their daze and realized both of them had landed in a jail cell. Peeps gave a triumphant cry and jumped in the air, he had finally caught the burglar after such a long chase. The dog growled, not at all happy to lose his stolen goods and landed in a cell with Peeps of all creatures.

He jumped on the cop, determined to wipe that smug smile off that bird brain’s face and a scuffle started in the cell. A scuffle that soon came to an end as they both heard a familiar clearing of the throat, both stopped and turned to face the chief of police.

Peeps knocked the alien dog off of him and saluted his boss, all the while giving a cocky smile to Yipper. Now his boss was surely going to release him from this cell and congratulate him on a job well done. Instead the boss just looked at Peeps with a tired, disappointed look on his face, which worried the naive officer.

The chief snapped his fingers and several officers wheeled out a t.v. and set it in front of the cell. The chief turned it on and the news immediately started blaring with a very concerning headline.

“Terror struck Unnamed city today as disaster in the form of two idiots demolished the city. Perfect day ruined.”

It showed a quick picture of Yipper and Peeps before cutting back to Circuit who was the one reporting the disaster. He wasn't particularly sad especially with a dozen or so cats hanging off of him but it did create a more unnerving sight as the camera panned around to show the destruction of the obstacle course from before. It was on fire and people were running away from the inferno, Budge was seen trying to pull a cat off his face and other cats were using the fire to roast marshmallows.

The camera cut to what looked to be a huge car crash in the downtown area where ice cream littered the streets. Dr. Goop was on the scene attending to several poor victims, the doctor looked both ecstatic to have so many new patients to attend to but also concerned for the damages. Annette could be seen in the background sweeping away the debris, this was just a normal day for her.

The camera cut again to show the park destroyed and children crying, a huge ice cream monster rampaging in the background and Johnny wheelbarrowing his skeleton roommate away. The news showed almost the entire city in some form of distress and Peeps brain working in overdrive put two and two together. He gave a nervous smile to the chief who glared at the pair, his officer in particular.

A day later, Peeps and Yipper could be seen in prison uniforms, helping to clear the damages from their high speed chase. Several officers and Annette were assisting in their community service of beautifying the city and any time the two of them were seen fighting, they were hit over the head with several mallets.

It was just another day in the Unnamed City.

#pompom #z-t00n #fanfiction #officer peeps #circuit #yipper

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freytful · 2 years ago

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Hello! Could you tell me more about the blorbo from your profile pic? I know he's a bird guy from fe but I want to hear your thoughts (sorry if blorbo is cringe but I wanted to emphasize the tone lol)

!!!! YEAH SURE

okok reyson is from Fe 9/10 (the games with ike) and in those there are these species of magic animal people called laguz, and hes from the Heron tribe, which is like. calm and mystical and also can sing to make people move again which is always a great skill.

HOWEVER like 20 years ago the heron tribe was genocided. And hes been living with the allied Hawk tribe since, with, of course Tibarn. And, unlike what a heron is supposed to be, he is angry. Hes this character defined by being physically pathetically weak - he literally cannot fight - and yet absolutely refusing to act like it. He has a whole thing about Tibarn, whos huge and bulky and powerful where they read like boyfriends, esp in fe10, but he also clearly, desperately wants that power for himself, and wants to be like tibarn, despite it being impossible. Its the gender envy/attraction dialectics!!! But also the grief over his people and wanting to be strong enough to protect people!! Theres this to me absolutely soulcrushing scene where hes damseled for a while and he punches his captor and while it breaks olivers nose it also breaks all the bones in his hand. and its kind of supposed to be a joke but i just. idk. He canonically considered suicide because he couldn't be like tibarn. Thats a canon fact about him.

And yet hes already strong hes just support... hes one of the most useful units in the game... He seems to accept this in game - his supports where he confides with Ike are optional and kinda difficult to get but Theyre Important To Me and in them its clear that hes getting better... and while i have a couple complaints about his portrayal in fe10 his relationship with Tibarn in that is,,, chefs kiss. Im p sure they actually got together during that timeskip because their whole vibe seems to much easier afterwards. Despite this he maintains some of that Anger and drive that i love so much and he gets to find two of the siblings he thought were lost and find hope in life and i just,,, hes important 2 me.

Also theres a piece of dialogue you basically cant get in normal gameplay that vaguely implies that his husband and his brothers wife are fucking and i dont know what to do with that information so here you go

#thank you so much anon for giving me a place to rant about the bird guy #anon #asks #im tired and somewhat sick sorry if any of that is incomprehensible

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llycaons · 4 years ago

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episode 18. I didn’t remember this scene right at all. also, the tonal dissonance is intense

okay another thing about the “nonconsensual surgery” argument - jc knew there was going to a procedure? he begged for a way to return him to how he was before? is wwx lying about the specifics of the procedure and who’s doing it something that falls under failure to get consent? on his end, jc is already lying about his identity. anyway

wwx: (lying to jc, something he’ll be very upset about later): by the way we need to drug and lie to yanli for her own good

jc (is completely willing to ignore yanli’s wishes to do what he thinks is best for her): oh yeah absolutely

wwx off catching pheasants because if you recall, he’s a bird-catcher extraordinaire. who apparently likes eating rabbits for real.

oh shit it’s song lan. it’s a good choice to stick him in here, to avoid even more flashbacks later on and give us too much information all at once

and since we know XY is out there still, we have the entire rest of the show to worry about what atrocities he’s committing

I’m just going to say it. wen zhuliu has divorced dilf energy

okay so wen qing is agreeing to the transfer because she relates to wwx for older sister reasons (and probably feels like she owes the jiangs for what her clan has put them through) but she’s still okay with drugging yanli, the actual older sister here. wow.

when wen qing says she understands why jc is angry and in his situation she would be too? that’s insane because we later DO see her in a similar position and she is NOTHING but graceful and polite and restrained towards him. the worse things happen, the calmer and more at peace she becomes. I wish we could have seen her snap. just once. wen ning got to snap on her behalf but it’s not the SAME

the flashback is all over the place, tonally. paternal and kind clan leader assures terrified, traumatized, and newly-arrived wwx he’s welcome and needn’t apologize for things that aren’t his fault, then abandons him to the mercy of his son, who has serious emotional problems because he’s lonely and his only friends have been sent away and his parents refuse to give a shit about offering emotional support or guidance or how to act with new people. great job, jfm

yanli in the past, as in the present, is the foundation of the jc wwx relationship because she can tell what each other really want to say and she’s the only one jc will listen to when he’s angry. but she also tells wwx that he shouldn’t be mad at jc, because jc is sad :( even though jc threw him out and threatened him with dogs so wwx has a right to be angry and hurt. but hey, at least she got jc to apologize, something that literally only happens in episode 50, set approximately 30 years after this scene

there has to be a middle way between excusing all his behavior and treating him like hes a worthless failure and its actually confronting him about the harm he does. but throughout the entire show, I feel like he doesn’t make decisions, he just acts on impulse and emotion.

anyway the REAL kicker about this scene is how it’s about being together and loving each other and staying connected as siblings WHILE wwx is actively drugging yanli against the wishes she JUST expressed to send her away from them because he believes he knows what’s best. and she’s not even mad at him! and there’s no indication he feels bad or won’t do it again! mama mia

hiiii nie mingjue

LAN WANGJI!!!!! we only got like 10 seconds and no dialogue but I’ve been WAITING for him!!

there is so much love in wwx saying goodbye to jc. tbh I don’t really feel that jc loves wwx so much as he desperately needs him and is concerningly dependent on his agreement and support. like, I know logically he loves him and wants to protect him and he’s terrible at showing it but I’ve never felt it. the one person I really felt like jc loved selflessly, and who he wanted to be happy even if it was away from him, was yanli, and even then, as we see, he drugs her without any regard for how it would hurt her to be tricked like that.

in this scene you can see how much this means to wwx and how much care he puts into it. and not just because of the debt he owes but because that's his family, that’s his home

it’s so obvious this is wen qing. the show barely tried. like, the red robes. the voice. her SWORD. it’s barely on the edge of plausible deniability

I don’t remember this scene cutting off so abruptly huh

#cql rewatch

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colourful-void · 5 years ago

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Hoshiai no Sora Fan Movie Breakdown/Theory/I don’t know

Yeah I went mad so imma do theories now I guess. rip homework and fic.

spoilers for the fan movie, which is like 3 minutes and on youtube so just head over there, theres a link up here somewhere.

So first off, where’d the student council go?

Prez dances alone despite usually having some people watching and clapping behind her. They’re just gone!

Most of the first half is reused footage, so theres not much Ill break down, at least for now.

Once the outro is done, we cut to the final moments of Hoshiai Episode 12, as if we haven't had that scene burned into our brains.

Once that ends, we cut to this little card:

Which I think means two years later (according to this post which is honestly a way better post than mine, go read it.)

and then this card which according to google translate says ‘living that time’ I dont think thats right.

Let’s note we’ve returned to black on white background, and not the coloured on black of the title card at the end.

One of the best OST’s in the show plays (imo) and we get a little montage.

Rintarou and Taiyou go to the same school, good for them! They’re trying to get members for a soft tennis team (probably) but everyone around them is uninterested. They have more colour then anyone else in the shot, and are given more detail. part of that is because no one does background characters, but I think theres some symbolism there with them having their own little world of soft tennis, especially since Rintarou and Taiyou are known as the more energetic and friendly (or colourful!) members of the team. There’s also a baseball team walking in the background which I find interesting.

Tsubasa is angry and still playing tennis. If we follow his line of sight we find he’s glaring at (or at least guiding us to) the people in the back longing around and not playing. I can think of two reasons why he’s upset. One: because of everything that happened season one, he takes the game seriously and dislikes people slaking off. or two because it reminds him of his old team. I think one is more likely than two though. yet again anyone who isnt a main character isnt coloured in.

Shingou????? Is now at a strict school I guess?? The thing that stands out here isnt really him being at this school, (his parents could totally send him off) but he looks happy. Proud even. Not only is that contrary to the Shingou we know, but look around him. The background characters dont have eyes but they sure do have frowns. they’re also really gray, unlike Shingou.

iTSUKI GOT TALLER?? Lets note some things! The background characters have gone from being tinted a bit grey to entirely monochrome. The other characters have backpacks like Itsuki (idk the name but they hold tennis rackets) by beyond that, Itsuki doesn’t fit into the scene at all. Beyond just the colour, he’s not looking at the other boys, and it doesn't seem much like the other boys are looking at him. you could crop him out of the scene and the boys would look perfectly normal. The boys are also all wearing ties where Itsuki has a hoodie, giving him another way to stand out.

Now where everyone else had a still that zoomed in, we turn to my son, Nao.

He gets 5 shots, two of which are animated.

Note that when we see Nao’s hand all bandaged, the music takes a bit of a dip, making a static noise a bit like what we hear in some Nao scenes, or like a ghost.

So: Nao doesn’t play tennis anymore, clearly he either misses it or something, but in whatever case he thinks about it, and watches the others play. More than just play, he watches them celebrate.

Now look at the other boys who approach Nao. We get a bad vibe on instinct. I could be wrong, but it looks like the boy on the far right is the same boy who watched as another bully talked to Itsuki and then got bashed for it. Mainly just due to hair and him wearing a mask around his chin, which we haven't seen a single other character do. Actually, I dont think we’ve ever seen a Hoshiai character wear a mask, so it stands out.

Now, Nao’s knuckles are bandaged, which suggests he punched someone or something. I cannot picture him doing this. WE can see the bandages aren’t even, so he probably placed them himself, who whoever did it, did with little care.

Nao says: something. I can’t read lips or speak Japanese, but im not sure what Nao says is even readable. It has no audio, but the spooky noises continue. Music is now gone.

Cut to black.

Bird noises! Maki is watching their old sitting spot from afar, suggesting reminiscence.

Maki says something! I don’t know what, According to the other post, translated here on twitter, he says:

"Let's leave it be. He probably just doesn't want to see me again"

So that’s likely refering to Touma, or possibly his father but I doubt that highly.

Note: Everyone keeps their distance from Maki, Arashi still has his tennis bag, Mitsue has a very nice uniform and Yuu has a new bag I think, which is pink. Very cute.

Yuu is the only one we don’t see in any uniform (itsuki didnt have the tie but he had a jacket) so we don't know what school they go to, of what uniform they wear. Yuu and Mitsue stand close together, so we ca assume that friendship lives on.

I won't do shots of all of Touma’s dialogue but here's some:

And of course the most important shot,

Now: Touma is saying in this scene, thanks again to twitter, translator’s tweet is here go leave a like,

"It's pointless. He has no game sense. Why does he make the same mistakes? There's no point in continuing like this. Whatever. I'll find someone else"

So like the beginning, Touma is fed up with fellow soft tennis players.

Maki and Touma meet on a street corner and Touma frowns. Maki remains neutral.

long shot as they stare at each other and a train goes by.

credits roll.

So time for my final thoughts and theories and things I want to mention.

Maki hurt Touma with the knife. I know, its bad I dont wanna think it, but like,,, Occam’s Razor.

Whatever happened with maki’s dad, he didn’t get kicked out of school, he didn’t die, and he doesn't gotten any life long injuries

No one’s parents are ANYWHERE IN THE ENTIRE PV. for a show so dedicated on these kids relationships with their parents, that is striking. We don’t even see family members.

No teachers are seen either.

Aside from the beginning we don’t see student prez at all.

Why does Nao get extra screen time? like do not get me wrong I love him but everyone else only got one shot.

Background characters are near always painted in greys wand without eyes, except for whoever Touma was yelling at and the others in that scene. they still don't have eyes though, which is probably just because they’re background characters.

Most characters are alone, except for Rintarou and Taiyou, and the gang during Maki’s line.

Things aren’t looking good.

SO those are my thoughts/theories, hope you liked them, I'm gonna go cry over my son becoming a delinquent, good night!

#hoshiai no sora #stars align #maki katsuragi #touma shinjou #rintaro futsu #ishigami taiyou #nao tsukinose #frick it im not tagging everyone #knife mention #sry if this is bad im tired

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thebibliomancer · 4 years ago

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Shadows of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 20

Shadows of the Dark Crystal by J.M. Lee because Naia is at the castle!

Last times on book: Naia was on a journey to Ha’rar to defend her brother from a treason charge until Tavra told her to go home. Naia decided not to go home, had a fight with traveling companion Kylan, had a spooky time in the woods AGAIN but this time with the Hunter stalking her, and arrived at the castle!

Chapter 22

Naia enters the castle and is present for a very weird and confusing conversation between Tavra and the Skeksis. Things just keep confounding this poor Naia.

Naia reached the castle!

There’s a picture! It does a really good job selling how small she feels - and is! - next to the castle.

The path of engraving snaked around the warped castle base, below the extended leg-like buttresses until it finally arched in again, leading to an enormous set of thorny doors that made Naia feel like nothing but a fly at the mouth of a gate made for giants.

That’s some good scale.

Also, Tavra is also at the gate and Naia is like ohshit but also ah ha.

Because she might get in trouble but this confirms to her that she made a good, smart decision to go to the castle because its where her brother is.

Instead of getting angry, though, Tavra only paled in the bright gold torchlight. Her eyes widened, and she gripped Naia’s shoulders.

“Naia, in Thra’s name, what have you done?”

The urgency and fear in Tavra’s voice took Naia by surprise.

Tavra, what do you know?

Also, there’s a shadow to Shadows of the Dark Crystal that tells Tavra’s story and its gotta be mostly Tavra fretting about this child who keeps throwing herself into danger while flipping the double birds.

I’d like to read that story, honestly.

The doors groan open and Tavra desperately grabs Naia’s cheeks (making a stupid sandwich?) and tries to dreamfast with her.

Naia realizes that Tavra is trying to tell her whats going on but refuses the dreamfast and declares she’ll hear the truth from Gurjin instead.

Tavra tries to dreamfast again but the Chamberlain shows up. God only knows what he makes of one gelfling grabbing another gelfling’s face.

Lets get some good Skeksis prose here.

Seeing the creature sucked the breath from Naia’s lungs. Although she had seen Lord skekLach and Lord skekOk in Sami Thicket, it had been from a distance. Now, tall and decorated, here was another standing before her, so close she could smell the musty sweet perfume that saturated his robes and oily skin. His cloak and mantle were propped high above his head with a complex structure of ribbed boning, adorned with jewels and shining metals.The cloak itself was crimson red with beaded patterns in black, studded here and there with furry black kiznet tails. Protruding from the mass of shining fabrics and extravagant ruffles, the Skeksis Lord’s pale-eyed face dangled off a long muscled neck, sinewy lips pulled back in a wide smile as he took in the Gelfling standing before the gate.

Tavra immediately stops squishing Naia’s face, I assume, and falls into a kneel, dragging Naia down into one too.

Which is a bit I always appreciate when I see it in visual media. The person who doesn’t know or doesn’t care about etiquette dragged down by the person who does.

Tavra also claims that Naia is her retainer which is surely to be a road to hilarity.

Also, why is Chamberlain answering the door? Is that... what his job is?

When he spoke, his voice was high and bleating, almost in singsong as it resonated through his hornlike face.

“Katavra!” he cried. “Daughter of Mayrin! Come, come! Retainer, yes! Bring, bring! Everyone in!”

Geez, that is top-notch dialoguing. I can hear that in the movie and series voice.

Also, ha Tavra’s full name is Katavra.

Kind of makes Brea the odd name out with Seladon and Katavra on the table.

Naia is kinda screaming internally as she realizes that Tavra is the All-Maudra’s daughter and feels stupid for not realizing it all along. Story of Naia’s life.

Ahead, Lord skekSil weaved back and forth in eccentric zigzags, as if his two feethad differing minds of their own, in a constant battle to dominate his trajectory.

Sil, are you really so tricksy that even your feet are at odds? Whats going on with you, man?

Naia can’t be mindblown about Tavra for long because then she gets mindblown by the opulence of the castle which she had long imagined.

Two long tables were arranged in a cross formation, draped in gathered silk sheets and dozens of runners and linens. Metal platters overflowing with squirming savory-smelling delicacies were lined up, one on top of the other, barely leaving room for the goblets of wine and glass decanters that poked out of the banquet settings like saplings. Banners and curtains in gold, red, coral, navy, ivory, and white dropped from the high vaulted ceiling like sails, drawn and bunched in an array of textures and colors with braided, tasseled cords and chains. Seated at the banquet table, in feasting thrones resembling the hands and fingers of the castle itself, were the purple-skinned razor-beaked Skeksis.

And their table manners are about what you’d expect from the movie.

So, wait, not only did Chamberlain answer the door, he answered the door during dinner?

Guy lost a coin toss, didn’t he? ‘Someone go get the door!’ ‘Make Sil do it!’

Story of his life, right?

Naia also notices a pair of guards at the dining hall door but they’re so silent and unobtrusive that she wouldn’t have noticed them at all if she hadn’t been wanting to see what her brother’s duties looked like.

“Gelfling! Gelfling! Silverling and Sogling!” cried Chamberlain skekSil. He held their shoulders and shook them slightly, as if giving them motion would attract the attention of his brethren.

‘Pay attention to meeeeeeeeee’ - skekSil.

The other Skeksis are confused and suspicious that the All-Maudra’s daughter is here but the Emperor tells them to shut up.

He was not the largest of the Skeksis by size, but the immediate response his sharp voice garnered carried more weight than any of the others were willing to contest.

Then he spills soup all over himself. Or more like his various jewels dip into stew as he bends over his food.

The Skeksis experience: grand, terrifying, a little messy!

Naia is panicking because she didn’t expect to be in front of all the Skeksis, she expected to deal with underlings. And here she is in front of the lords, covered in mud from her run through the spooky woods, and with Tavra desperately trying to tell her something.

Whoops. Too impetuous.

The Emperor questions why Katavra is here and also looks at Naia and basically goes ‘is this a gurjin?’

Did the Skeksis know their guards so little they mistook her for her brother? He’d hardly acknowledged her, much less looked at her long enough to realize she was a girl.

Tavra says that Naia isn’t one of the guards that the All-Maudra was asked to find. So the Emperor asks why Tavra is wasting his time instead of being out and looking.

“I wished to directly report to you, Your Greatness, the status of the assignment with which you have so honorably endowed us.”

“Waste of time!” Emperor skekSo repeated, so harshly the spines along the sides of his head jutted out like quills on a muski. “Gelfling are the ones causing problems, so Gelfling the ones that do the fixing!”

That sure is an argument.

But hey, Tavra said that Gurjin had been found and held captive and then came to the castle where the Skeksis are like ‘hey why aren’t you finding gurjin?’

What do you knooooooow, Tavra?

The Emperor tells Tavra to gtfo, get back to work, and search everywhere for the troublesome missing guards.

Tavra uses some etiquette judo though, saying of course she’ll go back out and search but I mean geez there’s a storm tonight and all and of course the All-Maudra would happily extend the search if she knew it had the support of the Skeksis.

The Emperor starrrrrrrres at Tavra and then goes yeah fine leave first thing in the morning but make sure you search all the places specifically outside the castle.

“To Ha’rar, to the Silver Sea. To wherever, and for however long it takes to find the traitors. Let all Gelfling know they are nothing but lies. We love Gelfling, we do, we loves them, of course, but traitors... No one loves traitors, Silverling... No one.”

This fits with a thought that Naia has that the Emperor seems weirdly defensive about some Gelflings spreading lies. But what could it meeeeean.

Tavra dismisses Naia by using the retainer ruse to order Naia to go prepare a chamber for her while she stays in the dining hall for a time.

Naia realizes she’s being dismissed but not out of contempt more excuse for her to leave.

Also, one of the Skeksis is just staring at Naia.

A familiar watching, like holes burning into her back. At the far end of the room, one of the lords was poised with his claws laced together, chin resting on his thick bony knuckles, red eyes fixed on her. His cloak and garb were all in black, giving him a countenance that seemed too wicked to befit a lord, or perhaps it was just the way he watched her.

... Is this skekVar? Whats your game, General?

So, yeah, Naia is happy to take the excuse to leave when some of the Gelfling guards come to take her to the All-Maudra’s guest chambers.

... with all the restraint she could muster, she fled, feeling the weight of the Skeksis’ stares on her shoudlers even after the doors to the banquet hall had closed.

Oof, tense conversation, amirite?

Castle isn’t so great as your imagination, I guess, Naia.

#dark crystal #the Dark Crystal #Shadows of the Dark Crystal #liveblog #Naia #Tavra #SkekSil #the Chamberlain #also every other skeksis at the castle

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itsclydebitches · 5 years ago

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RWBY Recaps: The Greatest Kingdom

Hello, glorious RWBY fandom! It’s that time of the year again. No, not the holidays. Rather, it’s the roughly twelve weeks where my Saturdays are lost to the void of churning out 4,000+ words of typo-laden analysis for our favorite web-series. Does that sound like a good time? If so, stick around and keep reading.

Now, those of you who joined us last year will recall that I took issue with numerous aspects of Volume Six. Many of you are capable of summarizing these aspects in great detail considering that the conversation never stopped on my blog between January 26th and, well, today. But for those of you who don’t otherwise suffer my metas or who might be joining us for the first time, here’s a very short guide to the stuff we’ve been chatting about the last few months:

Holy shit they really went all in on dragging Ozpin, huh?

Is the group part of a collective consciousness now? What happened to diverse thinking?

Should un-licensed teenagers steal military property and start grimm-drawing battles with national allies? No or double no?

We hate adults? Is that really a thing?

When will Oscar’s on-screen development come back from the war?

There are numerous, numerous other connected topics, from Rooster Teeth’s handling of physical assault all the way to theories regarding the relic’s potential influence and Jinn’s motives, but that’s the basic gist. Oh, and we now have a subset of the fandom who got big mad over fans headcanoning trans!Nora based on her new color scheme. ... So that’s where we’re starting this volume off.

Just so we’re all on the same page:

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Anyhoo, with that bare-bones context out of the way, let’s dive in.

We begin, as usual, with a shot of the shattered moon. Except this is the first volume where we know precisely what happened to it and all it may mean for humanity. It lends a certain amount of gravitas to our start. Now, rather than the more generic, “Ah. Right. That motif. Still a mystery, huh?” shots of the moon function as a quick reminder of the group’s new stakes. 99% of the time the focus is on Salem and our heroes’ attempts to keep this genocidal dictator from destroying and/or enslaving the entire world, but “The Lost Fable” set up that the true, end-game antagonists have always been the gods. Even if Salem is destroyed, they still exist as a continued threat to humanity. If they wish to use the gods to help them in their quest against Salem, they likewise risk their judgment. Having introduced them, that’s a tricky problem the show is going to have to solve before its end.

For now though we pan down to the Atlas military, numerous ships and lots of chatter over the radio setting up precisely how massive, organized, and deadly this army is. I would like to remind everyone that this is what the group deliberately decided to piss off by not merely stealing an airship, but unnecessarily attacking the head special operative of the Argus base. The fact that the military has grown more “aggressive” in Weiss’ absence has no bearing on her original knowledge that stealing/attacking this group would be a horrendous idea. She knew it. Qrow knew it. Everyone ignored that in favor of Jaune’s idiotic plan. I bring this up not to rub more salt in a long open wound, but to re-establish how the group is, thus far, unable to think ahead and accurately weigh the consequences of their actions. More on that later.

Their ship, Manta 5-1, is welcomed home and instructed to land so that a security team can debrief them. Whoops. Jaune, again in his infinite wisdom, reminds everyone that they achieved their goal of getting to Atlas. So now they just need to find some answers, yeah? Not quite. Weiss immediately points out that landing with a stolen ship means that security won’t let them anywhere near Ironwood… which, again, is something that holds true regardless of whether the military got more aggressive and their leader more dictator-y. This is not new information. Oddly enough, a group of teenagers with only one licensed huntsmen among them (considering that Maria is presumably still keeping a low profile) flying a stolen airship doesn’t exactly breed the sort of confidence that lets anyone---paranoid or not---approach a leader. These were all issues from the start that the group didn’t bother to consider in their haste to finish this mission.

“They might even take me back to my father,” Weiss says. Another concern that they’re only realizing now, yet one that the fandom latched onto immediately. Though mostly in the wrong way. It’s because Jacques is a threat that they should have found a more covert way into Atlas, or waited to hear from Ironwood, or just send Weiss herself with Cordovin’s blessing… Yes, much of the fandom got quite defensive at that suggestion, claiming that sending Weiss “alone” (she never would have been alone. Bird uncle. Fits into a suitcase grandma) was tantamount to handing her to Jacques wrapped up in a bow. Except, as is made perfectly clear here, it’s their illegal activity that endangers them. Which is more likely to get you sent off to daddy? Acting like a child by stealing military property and then getting caught? Or entering Atlas as a huntress with a special operative’s blessing, carrying instructions that you are to meet with Ironwood as soon as possible? To say the team dropped the ball on this one is an understatement.

Those, however, are all past options now far out of reach. Weiss decides then that she’ll simply call Winter and I absolutely adore Kara’s voice acting here. She managed to imbue so much into a single name, conveying Weiss’ realization, hope, and love for her sister in just two quick syllables. I feel like I got more insight into Weiss through that moment alone then the entirety of Volume Six. Only problem? Blake notices another feed where a recording of Winter emphasizes that anyone found breaking Atlas law will face punishment---something our group will be quite familiar with by the end of the episode---and Qrow decides that they probably shouldn’t go charging into Winter and Ironwood’s hands until they know more about the situation.

Which is the smartest decision we’ve seen in a while, considering that Ironwood’s own feed leaves little to the imagination. He continues to sport that beard, giving him more of a disheveled appearance compared to Volumes 1-3. His voice is as authoritative as ever and he literally towers high above all the people he’s supposedly protecting, keeping his distance from both the city and the airships that ‘govern’ it. A few moments earlier we got to see the startling contrast between the military life and the civilians’. Warm reds and browns give (in this case a literal) down-to-Earth feel and the neon signs are easy markers of a low-class neighborhood. You know the stereotyped kind: cheap food and cheaper entertainment. Compared to the whites and blues of the Atlas clouds, paralleling their elite (and thereby expensive) technology, the city below feels like a slum in comparison, reinforced by the dirty, drunk, and at times violent background characters that populate it.

As Maria says later, “A home in the clouds is as bright as it gets,” to which Nora responds, “Unless you’re the one having to look up at it,” something she’d be very familiar with as a child stealing bread in the otherwise plentiful looking Kuroyuri. There are contrasts in coloring, dialogue, as well as framing here. Compare Ironwood’s sky-high observation to Pietro’s existence as a black man, in a wheelchair, doing volunteer work in what’s established as a dump. He’s as “low” as he can possibly be and acknowledges that he prefers to actually be among the people, not standing literally or figuratively above them. Just in case the audience misses these cues, we get some rather ominous music on top of all that and fearful looks between Ruby and Yang.

Ironwood’s recording says that some people may view these as “uncertain times,” likewise contrasting Glynda’s recording in the very first episode, announcing that they live in an “extraordinary time of peace.” Whether there’s uncertainty or not, Ironwood promises that Atlas will remain “safe and strong,” even if the other Kingdoms have begun to falter. The speech has a very ‘Us vs. Them’ quality about it.

“He looks tired,” Ruby comments and I just need to chuck another fandom into the mix real quick because:

Under these circumstances, “tired” doesn’t just require the John Mulaney advice of, “Get some rest, tall child!” It’s a clear dig at the leader’s capabilities and even their mental faculties. “James… what have you been doing?” Qrow asks, thereby re-framing “tired” as the nice euphemism for “gone off the deep end.” It remains to be seen though precisely how much of Ironwood’s paranoia is literal paranoia in the sense that it’s illogical and undeserved, and how much of these changes are highly undesirable, but potentially justifiable decisions. After all, we as the audience know precisely how dangerous Salem and her crew are. We know why Beacon fell. We’re privy to the stakes in a way that the average, angry Atlas citizen is not. All Ironwood can do in the face of such odds is try to prepare for every eventuality… it just looks like he’s reached a point where those preparations have started infringing on basic human rights. It’s a very sad setup. A classic case of the wrong things done for the right reasons.

There’s a check-in from the radio tower, whoever’s in charge wondering why Manta 1-5 hasn’t gone towards their landing pad yet. Maria comments that the lady should take a hint and starts finding a different place to land. Which in hindsight is kind of funny because they obviously did take a hint… and then sent out a special team to deal with the implications of that hint.

As the group starts exploring we get a lovely shot demonstrating how much they stand out in this new environment.

Though there’s some color in the neon signs, the otherwise overwhelming brown/beige/black/red makes elements like Nora’s pink skirt and Weiss’ white hair stick out like sore thumbs. As we’ll see in a minute, there are obviously in-world difficulties with them passing as average citizens, but it’s also a signal to the audience that, for now at least, they’re really out of their depth. This is the “greatest kingdom” referenced in our title.

Maria is leading them to a friend of hers when a bot takes an interest in these obvious outsiders. It approaches Yang at the back of the group, takes an unexpected picture, and she responds by kicking it into the street where it sparks with damage before getting hit by a truck.

(Flashback to Ruby and Penny, anyone?)

Now, I’m honestly on the fence about this moment. You could make the case that they’re all traumatized fighters and responding to that flash was a logical, instinctual response. You can even argue that, just hours after taking her first faunus life, Yang is more than a little on edge—even though the premier doesn’t reference this incredibly significant event at all, outside of Blake’s quick realization that her blade is still broken. Both are valid and easily supported readings. However, I’m still hyper aware that this is Yang. The character who, for two volumes now, has been characterized very strongly by her, “attack first, ask questions later” attitude. Out of all the characters we could have seen instinctively attacking something that hadn’t actually done her any harm, choosing Yang holds the most weight. The story also lightly acknowledges that this was an extreme response, what with the group staring at her and Yang’s sheepish expression.

Whether it’s specifically in the context of trauma over the fight with Adam, or more broadly acknowledging Yang’s tendency to both assume and act on the worst in people, I hope this volume helps her manage these instincts. One talk with Tai about not punching through problems isn’t going to cut it. Especially when her forceful attitude has caused much of the internal conflict recently.

It’s after this that the group is accosted by a drunk man, functioning largely as exposition to explain what’s been going on in Atlas and why the people are so scared and angry about it. Pissed enough to get literally pissed, of the inebriated variety. Here then, we return to the “this group of teenagers is really bad at thinking ahead” issue that I mentioned earlier. Ruby is all ready to start a fight---referencing her newfound willingness to escalate situations that don’t necessitate escalation---and it’s Blake who holds her back, reminding Ruby that they can’t afford to cause a scene. Which is fantastic. Except they end up causing a scene anyway when the drunk calls Blake a “stupid faunus” and Weiss uses a glyph to chuck him into the trash.

Is seeing a racist asshole get his just desserts extremely satisfying? Absolutely and from a representation perspective I’m thrilled to see Rooster Teeth taking a hard stance in their story. From an in-world perspective though, that was an incredibly bad decision. We’ve been establishing since minute one of this premier that the group needs to be cautious. Blake herself, the victim here, just told Ruby not to endanger the whole group by defending her honor… and then Weiss swoops in to do it anyway. There are two priorities here, to your friends and to your mission, and the issue is that Team RWBY has a tendency to consistently prioritize the former, something that wouldn’t be an issue if this was still a low-key story about a group of students and not would-be, formal huntresses trying to save the world. The choice to attack rather than walking away---paralleling last volume’s final battle---speaks to their inability to think ahead and weigh their priorities. “It was worth it,” Weiss says, but is it? Now that you’ve caused the scene that you couldn’t afford? Now that this guy recognized your glyphs and you’ve blown your cover? I realize I’ll probably get heat for this, but there’s a difference between calling out micro-aggressions in everyday life and calling them out when you’re fugitives trying to keep an invaluable relic safe. It would have said more about the group’s maturity if Blake had succeeded in avoiding a scene and they expressed anger/sympathy among themselves that she had to put up with that shit. Throwing guys into dumpsters is satisfying as hell, but it’s not the action of a level-headed adult conducting a job.

Provided that the story actually acknowledges how young they are and that it’s expected they make such mistakes, we’re golden. As it is though, these issues are usually brushed aside. Later Maria says that Pietro “likes to keep a low profile. Something I’m coming to realize you know nothing about,” but it’s said in a joking, fond manner. This isn’t treated as an actual flaw and is therefore not set up as something for the team to work on. And that, right there, is the heart of the conflict between RWBYJNR and Ozpin. He’s a fine scalpel. They’re a sledgehammer. RWBY continually introduces threats that require a delicate touch---whether it’s the possibility of spies in your midst that force you to carefully monitor who has what information, or needing to move through a city without drawing attention to yourself---these battles require a certain level of strategy and without fail our heroes are characterized as people who can only solve their problems through direct, immediate violence. You don’t walk away from a fight. Ever. Be it Cordovin or a racist drunk. The more I see of their behavior, no matter the good intentions behind it, the more it makes sense to me that Ozpin lied and kept his secrets. Our heroes simply don’t have the patient, level-headed, forward-thinking personalities required to fight this kind of delicate war. Their talent lies in the hack-’em slash-’em situations.

Anyway, I’m getting off topic. The group runs from the guards that show up after the drunk guy incident and they manage to make it to Pietro’s place. After some fun dialogue about whether he remembers Maria and the state of his shop, we get a potential explanation for Maria’s strange behavior on the train. Everyone remember this?

Obviously the camera focusing on Maria helps us, the audience, realize that she’s a character who will eventually become important to the story, but it’s also a bit coincidental that she’s hanging out near Team RWBY’s room. Especially when she inexplicably ends up on the back half of the train when everyone else was evacuated. It was clear at the time that she’d deliberately stayed back, but to what purpose no one was sure. Here, Maria gives a general answer about how she thought this group might have needed her guidance while fighting all those manticores… which is still an odd explanation to my mind. Because up until her confession leaving the farmhouse, Maria wants to keep that low-profile. She’s done with being the Grimm Reaper, so why get involved now? Especially when, with hired huntsmen to protect the train and a large group of teens with their own weapons, she probably would have assumed they were all in good hands? Even if it was just a fighter’s natural instinct to help, what would that guidance have looked like? Pretending to be a normal, formal huntress lending a hand where she can? Admitting she’s the Grimm Reaper? Is she still able to fight? There’s still the highly coincidental nature that Maria, the greatest huntress of a generation, just happened to be traveling the same route as and randomly became interested in the group involved with Salem, gods, and the relics.

To be clear, I’m not really arguing that there’s some big conspiracy surrounding Maria. Coincidences are common in all fiction because if things happened based on real-life probability, it would all be pretty boring. Rather, I’m simply pointing out that between losing her eyes as a young adult and coincidentally getting involved with Team RWBY now, we pretty much have no idea what Maria has been up to for most of her life. If the story wanted to establish some sort of betrayal/trickery/what-have-you, there’s room for it.

That would make me super sad though. I quite like Maria.

We learn more about Ironwood’s increasing paranoia, a hint that not everyone on the council is happy with his changes---that mysterious woman we keep seeing on the posters, perhaps?---and the acknowledgement that whoever helped bring down Atlas’ tech at Beacon has to be “Either a genius, or one of our own.” Probably both. Enter Watts, seen typing at a computer in our opening.

With all this info bearing down on them, a few characters like Jaune and Oscar start asking whether they can just leave and yes, please tackle that, because it’s a very important question. Right now the show has stalled the, “Will the group continue the fight against Salem and what’s their reasoning for doing so when they all think it’s pointless?” question by throwing up another roadblock with the relic. They got it to Atlas, but they’re not sure they can hand it off to Ironwood yet, which just leaves them twiddling their thumbs. That portion of the quest isn’t technically complete yet, putting off an answer as to whether and why they’ll go onto the next portion. We need to tackle the group’s new motivations though. Soon. I sincerely hope that when Ironwood announces he has a way of defeating Salem, we finally get the group challenging their own assertions that such attempts are fundamentally useless. We had a whole volume of, “Oh no. Oh god. Salem is immortal and all our work is for naught.” We need at least a little attention paid to the development of a new perspective to counteract that.

Before things can get too bleak though, Pietro recognizes Weiss as a Schnee. Yang, in a lovely moment of support, desperately tries to re-direct the conversation back to the council. Pietro then recognizes her arm, puts it all together to get Team RWBY, and drops the loaded comment, “My daughter has told me so much about you.”

Many fans saw it coming. Even more hoped for it. Honestly? I think that’s great. Too many shows nowadays rely on “twists” that don’t actually make sense, or even undermine the original setup. Those are frustrating beyond belief and feel like the authors are selling out good story for cheap, undesired shock value. The fandom saw Penny’s resurrection coming a mile away? Great! That just means Rooster Teeth did a good job of setting up that possibility and then following through on it.

I’ll talk more about Penny’s introduction in a moment, but first I just want to throw out that I legitimately enjoyed the fight scene. Good action and creative teamwork at times. I particularly liked Weiss and Ren working together to take down four grimm in as many seconds. Oscar likewise takes a grimm out with a very impressive strike… more impressive than I was expecting from him, honestly. Right now I suppose I’m just inclined to shrug that off with, “He and Ozpin are slowly merging, so he picks up stuff way faster than everyone else,” most notably Jaune. Also, I’ll be blunt. I wouldn’t touch canon-based rosegarden with a ten-foot pole. You know, because of all the issues like a massive age difference, two minor characters involved, questions of consent, the fact that Ruby was Ozpin’s student---pesky ethical concerns like that. AUs though? I think the ship is adorable. Provided that Oscar is fully his own person and there’s consent on both sides appropriate for whatever ages they currently are in your fic or fanart? Very nice. So, it’s for those fans that I point out an entirely coincidental parallel: Ruby saves Oscar from a grimm with a bullet in nearly the exact same manner that Blake saves Yang from a grimm with a bullet. Make of that what you will.

Back to Penny though. Overall, am I thrilled that she’s back? Absolutely. I actually spoke about this recently while answering an ask, expressing how much I’d enjoy this very scenario: having her consciousness saved and thus allowing for her resurrection. Do I think her new look is adorable? Yes, yes I do. “And yet,” you say, “It sounds like there’s a ‘but’ somewhere in there, Clyde.” Yeah. Sadly there is. Because although I’m happy to have Penny, I wasn’t particularly taken with how they re-introduced her.

Simply put, there was far too much humor for what should have been a touching, emotional scene. With the exception of one moment where Ruby tries to voice the word “killed,” everyone treats Penny’s resurrection as a surprising, but not terribly notable event. Yang, Weiss, and Blake express a sort of long-suffering fondness as they comment on how wholesome this is. Pietro laughs at any shock over her “death” and shrugs about how yeah, it technically was. Whatever. Qrow takes the time to nonchalantly say that things are going better than he expected. Ruby is holding it all together with barely a blink. Penny herself is nothing but exuberance and funny dialogue. Maria cracks a joke about how she has no idea who this child is. Jaune goes, “Well, that was unexpected” as if Penny had showed up in Atlas when they all thought she was in Vacuo. That sort of surprise. The whole thing is treated flippantly with, “Never a dull moment.” Summarized, all this really isn’t the appropriate reaction to realizing a friend is no longer dead.

Yes, Ruby was the closest to Penny by far---we can’t expect everyone to get misty-eyed---but does everyone remember what her death was like? It was the turning point of the entire series, not just for the audience, but the characters as well. Penny was the first casualty of the Fall of Beacon and her death was appropriately gut wrenching. It was then shown across every TV turned to the Vytal Festival, the moment where the whole world watched their golden girl, Pyrrha, unintentionally murder a newcomer who turned out to be a robot. Moments later grimm start attacking and the safest place on Remnant is destroyed. Penny’s death heralded all that. The one time we see Ruby tackling the trauma of it all is when she speaks with Oscar and, notably, crumbles a bit when she instinctively uses Penny’s catch phrase.

What I had hoped for was the group grappling with the sudden, completely unexpected shock of getting one of two losses back; working through the knowledge that their lives have been defined by two friends’ death and now one of those has been retroactively erased. Perhaps we’ll see that in future episodes, but right now it feels like a disservice to the impact Penny’s death had on the characters and the story to treat this as such a comic, light-hearted moment. Let Penny tackle-hug Ruby and then let Ruby give her a much more sincere embrace. Let her cry. Have Yang put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder, giving her a look that expresses how she understands what this means to her. Have Jaune looking away, devastated that Ruby miraculously got her friend back, but such an event is impossible for Pyrrha. Let him or Oscar or Ren or anyone seriously acknowledge that, holy shit, this is a joyous occasion we never expected to experience. We’ve spent months dealing with trauma and pessimism, now here’s Penny, reminding us that there’s still so much good in the world. Have someone acknowledge that sometimes the impossible happens (cough-defeatingSalem-cough). You can allow the moment to function as the momentous occasion it is and then lighten the mood by having Maria announce that she has no idea what’s going on.

This isn’t the first time Rooster Teeth has implemented comedy when they were better off sticking with drama. See: the choice to animate punching Ozpin last volume in an absurd, cartoon style. So yeah. Happy to have Penny back, but that first moment felt underwhelming, to say the least.

We then have an admittedly very cool shot—

— (semblance? Just awesome drama?) right before the group is taken out in seconds by Atlas’ elite. They’re… I don’t know how to spell their name yet. Is it something like Ace-Ops for elite special operations? Or Aesop like Aesop’s fables? Potentially both? Idk. The fandom will figure that out in the next day or so, if they haven’t already. What’s important though is that this group charges our team with stealing an airship, illegally entering the city with it, and starting an unauthorized fight in the streets. If I could just take one second to…

Ahem. I’m good. Seriously though, if I’m at all optimistic for Volume Seven it’s because the story is finally acknowledging that the group made some pretty massive mistakes last volume. Not that it looks like there will be much punishment attached to that. Between them meeting with Ironwood in the trailer and the Blah-Blah-Ops’ clear status as heroes this volume (they’re in the opening a bunch and seem to be working with RWBYJNR), I’m not yet convinced that this arrest will lead to anything other than getting precisely what they want: seeing Ironwood. To be clear, it’s not like I want the group languishing in jail for twelve episodes. That would be one hell of a boring volume. But rather, I’m interested in whether the story will continue to imply that Atlas is in the right for arresting them, or whether Episode Two will quickly turn that on its head and forcefully announce, as they did in Volume Six, that these actions are an egregious insult because we’re the protagonists. How dare you not let us do whatever we want?

Because the group was in the wrong here. It can be easy to miss considering that the rules they’re refusing to obey are tied up in a dictator-like society---aren’t we the heroes for ignoring and circumventing evil Ironwood’s laws?---but what they actually choose to do has far more of an impact on innocent civilians than it does on The Man. Like endangering all of Argus with your needless battle. Or, to a much smaller extent here, jumping into a fight when you’re not authorized to do that. Now, I actually don’t blame RWBYJNR for that one. They are huntsmen and it’s their job to protect the people. Going out to defeat grimm is 100% their thing. Rather, I’m talking about stuff like their commentary on Atlas’ defenses. When the fight starts we get, “I guess the city’s defenses aren’t doing much” and “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” It’s more of that, “Us huntsmen are the only true defenders of the world. Your attempts with robots would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous” attitude. It’s a certain level of arrogance. As we see just a minute later though, Ironwood’s setup works. Because the civilians all know to get indoors. Because he has Penny. The robots hold off the grimm until she arrives, defeating the rest with a speed and an ease that frankly doesn’t compare to what we saw the group accomplishing. She does from above what it took nine of them to manage, often (as we saw with Oscar and Yang) with great danger to them in the process. When they’re bound and accused of unauthorized fighting, it’s clear that they were, in fact, shouldering their way into a situation where they weren’t needed---and potentially causing trouble in the process. Rules exist for a reason. Are they always perfect? Far from it, but in the characterization folding over from Volume Six, the group has forgotten that most of the time rules are there for others’ safety. They have been thought out. This particular situation is easily defendable (of course they’re going to go fight grimm) and there were no consequences to the group jumping in when they weren’t allowed (like property damage or injured civilians), but this moment does function as a good representation of the overall problem. Just because there weren’t consequences for saying, “Screw your laws” this time doesn’t mean there won’t be in the future. Or that there hasn’t been in the past.

It likewise stands out to me that Qrow consistently tires to use his “I’m a licensed huntsmen” as a justification. He flashes it at the two goons on the train to get them to back off. He tires to use it to get past Cordovin. He now tells his captors that he has every right to fight and protect the people because of this card he carries. Qrow is well aware of how important the status of a huntsmen is in this world… yet he’s running around with eight fighters who don’t have that legal backing. I don’t think the show would ever go for my suggestion of another school arc so they could finish their training, but at the very least we should provide some sort of loop-hole for these characters. Have Ironwood provide special licenses based on their heroics at the Fall of Beacon and their work since. Because right now we have a world that’s continually emphasizing being a huntsmen as a job, something you earn the right to call yourself, yet 95% of our group doesn’t have that right in the eyes of their society. We know they’ve done great, secret work to protect the people. But the people only know that these are a bunch of teens with one year of formal training. So you really can’t blame any officials for going, “Sorry. We’re not in the habit of letting random people with weapons cross our borders. Or fight in our streets.” It’s like if a bunch of 14-18yos arrived at a crime scene with guns and demanded that they be let in on a case. No, we never graduated from an academy, but you should adhere to our demands anyway. The good intentions are there, but you need to iron out the formalities first.

Really, RWBY should just fix the whole license thing with a throw-away plot point if they’re not going to tackle it seriously, just so this isn’t an ethical issue anymore. I’d rather smooth it over soon since the story doesn’t seem interested in tackling whether a group with one year of formal training should be allowed that status. So just give it to them and let’s move on. They might still run into issues with Atlas, but at least the rest of the world won’t be expected to trust them purely on faith. Not everyone belongs to a small town terrorized by a geist, with four random teens as your only option for safety.

Which finally, as the doors close on our group with heavy heads, brings us to the opening. Some things to pay attention to:

1. We get a glimpse of that mysterious woman shown in numerous posters across the city.

(I’m likewise interested in the very long shot we got on this “show your teeth” graffiti.)

2. Watts and Tyrian are presented as primary antagonists. Interesting that Neo and Cinder aren’t there (not that I caught anyway), especially since we know they were heading to Atlas last volume as well. It makes me think that they’ll be the true threat at the end of the volume. Keeping things quiet, even in the intro, so we have no chance of guessing their plan.

3. The main conflict seems to be between Weiss and Winter, as opposed to Weiss and Jacques as many originally assumed. Those expressions don’t bode well.

4. We still see an image of Ironwood briefly flickering to Jacques though as an angry citizen throws a rock at it. Implying Jacques is secretly pulling the strings? James has simply become too much like him? We’ll have to see.

5. We get a shot of Oscar and Ironwood… training? Fighting? I’m inclined to say fighting based on his and Ozpin’s past difficulties, but that’s also up in the air.

6. The image of our staff…

…and 7. an absolutely massive cast this volume. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m concerned with RWBY’s insistence on continually introducing so many new characters, particularly characters who are important enough to warrant decent development. There simply isn’t time for them all.

(Although, is Maria in that shot? Wonder if she’ll leave the group now that she’s done her duty of helping Ruby out with her eyes.)

Which brings us to the end of the premier! Finally, I’d like to end with a personal note. As is quite obvious, I’m still watching and recapping RWBY, but I feel like I should be upfront about my overall lack of investment in the series right now. Chock it up to getting burned last volume, fading interest in a long-running show, just growing up and changing… I don’t claim to know precisely why I’m no longer jazzed about a new volume like I once was. But, if I perhaps appear overly critical of what I generally thought was a good—and honestly better than expected—premier? That’s probably why. The details just don’t cut it for me anymore. All caps, screaming excitement over Penny’s return or Qrow’s new outfit just doesn’t resonate much, which leaves me with a more critical perspective on the show overall. So if that’s something you’re interested in, stick around because, baring unforeseen circumstances, there will be more metas over the next three or so months. More invested in a flailing celebration of RWBY as a whole? You’re better off hitting up another blog.

Basically, you know that shot in Pietro’s?

Note the “Days since our last nonsense” sign combined with the defeated expressions. That’s what RWBY feels like to me these days. A lot of nonsense and limited enjoyment. Ah well. Maybe Volume Seven will prove me wrong and I’ll be re-invigorated by the end of the season!

Until then, ❤️️

Minor Things of Note

Maria refers to the group as “kids” in the airship and Penny as a “child.” Acknowledging last year’s debate, I stand by the argument that just because many (but not all) of the group have reached the age of maturity in our world doesn’t mean they’re on par with the adults they were so recently rejecting. There’s a reason why the very old Maria naturally uses “kid” and “child” and it doesn’t come off as weird.

I really like the design of Pietro’s chair. Giving him something that walks on four legs is both different and a nice nod to nature among all the tech. Also, kudos to the Pinocchio reference on his bookshelf in the form of a whale.

Nora remains as adorable as ever. I particularly liked her energy in Pietro’s and her high-key annoyance at Ren getting a jump on the fight. I’m interested in what we’ll be learning about her this volume.

Not sure I’m a fan of Rooster Teeth using these squeaky toy noises whenever the group is comically surprised by something. Comedy is great, we need it in this story, but sound effects like that are remnants (ha) of a tone we haven’t really seen since Volume 1. I think the show can still get away with exaggerated facial expressions---Nora in her excitement, Ruby laughing at Jaune’s Pumpkin Pete’s sweatshirt---but this feels a bit out of place now.

“Maybe Atlas isn’t as safe as we thought” and yet, astoundingly, no one is inclined to ask Ozpin to weigh in on this. Even now that they know he’s listening. I think I’ll start a tally. See how many episodes it takes to actually acknowledge, let alone act on, the primary conflict of Volume 6.

Image Credit

Personal screenshots from RWBY

Transflag: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transgender_Pride_flag.svg

Doctor Who GIF: https://tenor.com/view/doctor-who-tired-harriet-jones-gif-5627138

How I Met Your Mother GIF: https://giphy.com/gifs/celebrate-2o5Ypf4fP6ahq

#rwby #rwby volume 7 #rwby volume 7 spoilers #mymetas #rwby recaps

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archiveofidentityconstellations · 5 years ago

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(Preferably all batfam related else I'd be clueless :P) 4, 8, 15, 29, 30, 37, 40 alternative ending to 'On Fashions & Small Fry' 💜💜

4. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

I literally just had an idea this morning about little snapshots in which Damian crawls into Dick’s bed to kind of show the break of outer and inner lives and what we project to the world (day) and how we feel inside (night). That sounds like a lot of hogwash bc mostly I just wanted to do a cute thing with Dick and Damian being brothers

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

from birds all sing:

Several minutes passed, Tim looking at the man he had known as a father for several years, brow furrowed in consideration.

"What else?" Bruce finally said. He let his voice soften. "What else do you need?" Tim met his eyes. Bruce's fists clenched.

So young.

"...The roti."

What?

"What?"

"The roti bread?" Tim repeated. "I was thinking maybe the zucchini but no, I definitely want the roti."

Bruce stood there, adrenaline seeping out of his bones.

"That's it?" he asked brusquely, not a little annoyed to be put through the emotional ringer in under five minutes.

"Yeah," Tim nodded. He almost beamed at the thought of the upcoming food. "That's it. Thanks, Bruce!"

"Don't mention it," he growled, marching out the office.

It’s not perfect, but I like it because it makes me laugh. My humor has a lot to do with timing, so when I manage to get the timing right I find it very funny

15. If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?

Good question! I wouldn’t really choose any of my fics to be filmed, but I would love my “version” of batcat to have a film presence. Other than that, I would probably want either bratkid or star wars domestic AU to be filmed, but I would make them original work. I like the idea of family coming together and getting to love one another. It’s an after school special!

29. If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

Oh man I’m kind of shit at imagining things beyond what the author intends. My friend Hobbs has a world she lets me play in sometimes, so I write little snippets of fanfic of her stuff.

30. Do you accept prompts?

When I say they’re open, yeah, kind of. I don’t get paid for writing, it’s not like a commission, so if I like the idea I’ll do it or incorporate it into whatever I’m writing. It’s free real estate babey

37. Talk about your current wips.

There’s too manyyyyyy

I’ll talk about what I need to do

birds all sing: start the first fight. make it organic, not off the cuff. don’t be overt but not too subtle.

crack fic: research you dumb bint. you are literally not writing this because you don’t want to research. why. normally you love research. you just don’t want to look up what writing up reports looks like. it’s probably online. just do it.

40. Write an alternative ending to [insert fic title] (or just the summary of one).

OHO, okay! Long answer

This was actually supposed to be a full fic, I had a lot planned for it but it got so large that I was like “hmmm” and didn’t do it. It had like 4 “acts” as to how the story went

Anyhow, the fic starts out how Damian wants to go to Sacramento with Bruce, because Bruce said he would take him last week, but then Bruce says no. He won’t explain why, but he’s obviously not mad at Damian, so Damian can’t figure it out. Damian ends up facecalling him and he can see Talia in the background. He promptly flips out, throws his phone at the wall, breaks it, destroys the room, then kind of has a breakdown wherein he just sits in the tub fully clothed with his shoes on 😅

Tim sits with him, then Damian basically falls asleep so Tim goes to get Dick and Dick puts his boy to bed

Second act: Several days go by, and Damian is better, but as he’s sitting on the counter while Stephanie is cooking, she accidentally says something they were all keeping from him: Bruce went to Sacramento so that Talia could sign off on custody rights, lawyers are involved and everything.

Cue to Damian being like “what” and marching off. Damian then concocts this scheme in which he tells Dick that he really wanted to see Dallas, that father was going to take him, please he wants to see the rodeo, etc. Dick gives in and decides they’ll take a brotherly bonding road trip! Yay!

But things start to go sour when neither one of them can mind their business in a seedy motel, and their relationship issues come to light. After this:

"No, damn it!" Dick slammed his hand against the doorframe. It rattled at its hinges. "You got your time, that's it, done, over. I take care of you, got it?"

"We're partners," Damian said, weakly.

Dick's eyes softened. He struggled inside himself, Damian could see. But just as a bubble of hope rose forth, it burst the next millisecond. Dick lowered his hands, head tucked low and shaking softly. "Not anymore we're not," he sighed.

then Damian uhhhh how does one say, drugs Dick so he can sneak out and take a plane to Sacramento.

He bursts into whatever meeting place Bruce and Talia are at and lambasts them for lying to him and such. Talia is like “hi sweetie” and Bruce is like “b o i” and Damian ends by saying he gets to leave first because they always leave whenever they wanted, so now he gets to leave THEM

So he angry-walks to a park and sits down on a bench and stews

Then Dick BURSTS in and is like “is he here?????” and Bruce is like “you let your eleven year old brother get on a plane himself?!” and Dick is like “that little SHIT drugged me, I didn’t let him do anything” and they all sort of talk about the best thing for Damian

Damian comes back after a day on the town in which he really doesn’t have all that much fun, and comes back and everyone is like “okay let’s all be mature about this and talk, no secrets”

And it turns out

Talia is dying

So Damian is bewildered and mad that he can’t be mad, she’s dying, she’s dying and she doesn’t even get to see him without Bruce’s approval, etc

So they work out what would be best for Damian WITH Damian’s input, thank you very much

(also Bruce is like “We acknowledge that we weren’t the best but if you EVER do that again—”)

Third act is in which the new normal is strange, because Damian is visiting Talia but it’s like when he was a very young child again, because she’s not trying to impart survival wisdom, she’s just his mom. And Damian is sort of dealing with the remnants of trauma, and is upset because why couldn’t it have been like this all the time, but he CAN’T be upset because she’s dying and despite his unwillingness to go back over his trauma it crops up and Talia has a lot to make up for. Ra’s appears in his crazy old way, because she’s his favorite child and she’s dying and Damian and Ra’s basically get to sit in a hospital waiting room together and have a stilted conversation on who they are and what family even means

Anyhow Damian is really starting to get along with Talia, which concerns Bruce because. she’s dying. Damian is going to be gutted. So he slowly kind of tries to make it so Damian isn’t as attached (dumb but it’s Bruce) and Damian gets angry and runs away to visit his mother in the French Riviera. They have a wonderful time but then Bruce goes to get him and Damian is mad at him. But Talia says “you need to listen to your father” and Damian realizes that Bruce is the only parent he’s going to have, he’s not going to have his mom anymore.

So yeah, there’s still another act that I didn’t finalize but that’s a rough summary of everything!!

And Talia was going to have an illness exacerbated by the Lazarus pits, like caused by it. It was basically going be Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease equivalent in the DC universe. So yeah, she can’t come back lol

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per-ineptia-ad-astra · 5 years ago

Text

starhearth: episode seven

Third Month of Spring, Days 3-4

The early morning calm of the next day is rather abruptly shattered by the arrival of, of all things, an angry feral bear.

[ID: A screenshot of a notification box reading “Feral Bear Approaching!”]

OH SHIT FERAL BEAR GET IN THE CAR

I don’t know why this particular godless killing machine has formed a grievance against us, but apparently it has, so the warrior squad charges forward to defend the settlement.

[ID: A large brown bear standing next to the crop fields as Chekov, Kirk, and Leslie charge toward it, each carrying a wooden shield and sword. The information box reads, “Brown Bear—It seems quite angry...and big! Attacking Pavel Chekov.”]

Surprisingly, despite the rather poor odds one would usually give three guys with wooden swords and one guy with a book versus one large, angry bear, the squad manages to take out the bear pretty handily. There’s some health lost all around, but not so much that McCoy can’t take care of it. For their trouble we get a couple cuts of prime bear meat, plus Kirk levels up.

[ID: Kirk, Leslie, and Chekov walking away from several animal pelts, bones and pieces of meat left where the bear died, while McCoy stands in the middle surrounded with gold sparkles as he casts healing spells. Each of them has a heart representing their health floating above them, with a quarter or third of the heart missing. A notification box in the upper right reads, “James Kirk, Log-Splinter has achieved Footman Level 2!”]

oh yeah I forgot he still had that title

With that excitement out of the way, the crew goes to eat breakfast, while McCoy chases them down with a hyprospray healing spells.

There are still a couple more promotions to hand out. For one, it’s time for Spock to assume his true calling: fashion.

[ID: Spock, now wearing blue tunic and square blue hat, walking away past the berry bushes while Kirk and Leslie patrol behind him. The message box on the side of the screen reads, “Spock has been Promoted!--Spock is now a Level 1 Weaver!--Standard Catalog: The Weaver can now make basic hangings and décor.”]

Spock’s looking glum this morning, and his new job doesn’t seem to have raised his spirits any. It’s probably Sarek’s fault somehow.

Speaking of Sarek, he’s going to get a new job too: Mason. Masons are a crafting class that make items out of stone; they can make a lot of the same sorts of things as carpenters, so we haven’t badly needed one so far, but we need one now to make the promotion item that will allow Rand to become a chef. Why give the job to Sarek? Because he’s...um...he’s...look, I don’t really have a reason at this point. We just needed a Mason so he’s gonna do it. Maybe it’ll be a good experience for him. Build character, and all that.

Spock and Sarek both work on making their crafting stations. Meanwhile, a bitter disappointment occurs: someone eats the basket of cherries before Chapel can level up enough to use them. The worst thing is, who eats the cherries? Chapel herself. CHRIS. CHRIS HOW COULD YOU.

Well, so much for the cherry bushes.

Once they’re finished, I put Spock and Sarek’s crafting stations on either side of the room, so they don’t have to work next to each other. Spock starts spinning some thread, while Sarek makes some stone lanterns to light up the place a little; it’s kind of gloomy in the tavern at the moment.

Two more goblins attempt a raid on the camp. As usual, one of them makes a run for the stockpile while the other one is keeping the squad busy, but they both go down in the end. You know, if the goblins just asked, I’d be perfectly happy to negotiate a mutually beneficial trade agreement with them, but no. There’s no option to do so, so all we can do is keep whacking ‘em.

After harvesting another load of carrots and turnips, Rand makes it to level two. She’s now able to promote to a Chef—we just need Sarek to get another level so he’ll be able to make the promotion item.

Now that the tavern is completed, it’s time to start work on making some actual houses for people to live in, since while the current sleeping arrangements are better than what they were, no one’s all that thrilled with them. First, though, we’ll need some wood. The orchard out back hasn’t quite grown up enough yet, so Chapel goes up to cut down some trees from the nearby cliffs, with the squad accompanying her in case any wild animals decide to attack. This does result in a bit of a delay, as Chapel decides to stand around and chat with Kirk for a while before getting to the job.

[ID: Chapel, standing among some blocks of wood in front of a few trees, talking to Kirk. Chapel has a dialogue bubble with an ellipsis in it floating above her, while Kirk has a thought bubble containing a crossed knife and fork.]

While that’s going on, we get a surprise visitor. It’s Mer Burlyhands, our liaison back at the capital who’s been sending us letters by bird. He’s come by in person to see how things are getting on, and seems impressed...for some reason.

[ID: A message box titled Not a Bird This Time, with an image of a hearthling with pale skin and brown hair and beard above the upper right corner of the box. The inside of the box reads, “Kind greetings! At last, I can see your Settlement in person. You’ve developed even faster than I anticipated, you should all be proud!” Below this are the options “Thank you!” and “[skip] We know what Hearth we want.”]

It seems that Mer has come with a decision for us to make:

“I came out personally to help you on your last step towards being a true Settlement of the Ascendency! You’ve grown large enough now that it’s time to choose what Hearth shall represent your town, as is tradition.”

Tradition? “Indeed, Hearths have served as shining beacons for Towns all the way back to the Phoenix Empire. Their glow attracts settlers and prosperity, and the particular qualities of a chosen Hearth reflect where a town finds its value.”

Value? “For instance, a Hearth of Cheer is for those who believe that a town’s value is found in being a happy home for its citizens.”

Sounds quaint. “A Hearth of Makers, on the other hand, is for those who believe that a town’s value is in its work, and that its work is best measured in gold.”

Sounds productive. “Finally, a Hearth of Glory is for those who believe their destiny is to stand strong in a hostile world, as the Knight Cid did at the founding of the Ascendency.”

Sounds heroic. “Cheer, Glory, or Makers—the choice is entirely yours. Envision what your Town will one day be, and follow that beacon into the future!”

So, basically, whatever Hearth we choose will give us a permanent beneficial effect of some sort. I’m going with the Hearth of Cheer, since our other choices are bloodlust and capitalism. The Hearth of Cheer boosts our daily net worth depending on how happy the villagers are, and gives a random buff to all the villagers ever day. We don’t get it automatically after choosing it, though. First you have to fulfill some requirements; for the Hearth of Cheer, this means that all the villagers have to have a mood of at least Content, at least five of them have to have a mood of Merry, and we have to have twenty items of prepared food. Once we actually get a Chef making the food will be no problem, but meeting a requirement of having everyone be in a good mood might take quite a long time with McCoy around.

So for now, getting the Hearth of Cheer will just have to sit in the quest log for a while. In the meantime, there’s work to be done. Sulu has also leveled up, which gives him the ability to plant silkweed, a plant that can be harvested for fibers. We’ll need that if Spock is going to be able to actually make anything, so Sulu and Rand start planting that in the turnip field. (We’ve got enough turnips for the moment.)

With enough trees felled to supply the stockpile with the wood we’ll need for the first house, the ladder up the cliffs is taken down and the squad returns to their regular patrol. Not a moment too soon, either—there’s yet another goblin attack. On the plus side, this gives Leslie enough experience to reach level two.

As the day ends, work begins on laying the foundation for the first house.

[ID: The partially completed floor of a house laid up against a corner of the cliffs, with part of the floor transparent to show that it hasn’t been placed yet. Sarek is walking across the finished section, holding a block of wood.]

#starhearth #starhearth episode 7

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dauntless-dragayn · 6 years ago

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nobody asked for it, but i liveblogged my She ra s3 reactions

[ part one ┊ part two ]

spoilers, obviously (under cut bc it’s rather long)

episode one

DAMN THEY DID NOT HESITATE TO DIVE RIGHT INTO SHIT

(oh yeah this is a split season so that makes sense..)

FUCK SHADOWEAVER FUCK SHADOWWEAVER

Angela loses points for not having a proper prison but gains them right back for not letting Adora in to interrogate Shadowbitch

Glimmer: we shouldn’t let her manipulate you

Adora, immediately: //decides to manipulate / trick her friends

Side note, interesting episode title..

Adora’s friends: //arent fooled at all THANKFULLY

adora honey youre a terrible liar. and your friends are too smart

Catra bby..

SCORPIA BBY

Catra: i cant handle this emotionally vulnerable shit

GOOD THEYRE WATCHING ADORA

Aaand theyre asleep

Oh this is great

Glimmer’s target practice cjdhjdnf

Oh Adora wants to change Shadowbitch.. honey.

GLIMMER IS WITH HER GOOD

ANGRY GLIMMER !!!!!! PROTECTIVE GLIMMER !!!!!!!!!

God Adora calling out Shadowbitch is everything

LET HER DIE

DONT HEAL HER

GDI

YOU CANT TRUST HER

Fuck this is cool

Shadowbitch’s two reasons for (SUPPOSEDLY) turning is to get revenge on 1) Hordak and 2) Catra While im sure Adora is all behind the first one, she certainly wont let the second happen.

Okay but who SENT Adora through that portal??

“Don’t I get a say in what happens to me? Don’t I get a choice?!”

:’0

The worst thing about this is that LightHope is basically telling Adora the same thing the Horde did: you dont have a choice over your life, your ambitions, your responsibilities. Fuck LightHope.

“It is happening again.” HM

“Are you okay?” “I’m not sure yet.” baby.. i felt that

episode two

What a COOL shot of Adora

Fjejhd of coUrse Glimmer didnt tell her mom

Poor fucking Angela

Ive never related to Bow more in this moment ⁃ bird ⁃ Trying to navigate whEN FUCKIG GOOGLE MAPS ISNT WORKING- coughs i mean, the navigator machine

Oh shit Hordak cares about Entrapta

ADORA PUTS HANDS AROUND HER EYES IN PLACE OF BINOCULARS SKFBFJFNMC

“Just act tough” oh yall are so bad at this

its Her time

I just watched this clip of Huntara last night

Adora is gay

Huntara is also gay she was just FLIRTING with a WOMAN at the BAR

The ‘purposefully gets names wrong’ gag will always be my favorite

ADORA’S ~TRYING TO BE SMOOTH~ VOICE IS HILARIOUS BUT ALSO.. 👀

anybody got a map? oh wrong show sorry

listen i cant blame Adora how could you NOT be in love with her

OH SHIT WE CAN SEE HORDAK WITHOUT HIS ARMOR

Ugly ass twink bitch

Adora getting an outside perspective on the war and how it effects Etheria should be interesting

Wait where are Glimmer and Bow ?

Adora being called “blondie” 👌👌

ADORA WANTING TO IMPRESS HUNTARA ️‍👌🏳️‍🌈✨

Oh theyre there they just fell behind

Huntara led them into a trap didnt she

Gdi

Oh she took Adora’s sword fuck I mean ofc she did but mm That would be her only chance of escaping

HORDAK HISSING AT ENTRAPTA DKDJF

Okay Entrapta is a top

Hordak is a clone?? Bitch what

//falsely sympathetic voice/ aww hordak just wants to impress his higher up with planetary conquest..

they even called this expedition a roadtrip awe

Wow theyre really playing up this Hordak + Entrapta friendship and bonding huh

Oh Glimmer is such a badass

ADORA JUST FUCKING TACKLED THIS WOMEN WHOS TWICE HER SIZE TO THE GROUND

Bow: awkward HAH of victory

Glimmer: sticks her tongue out at the enemy

God i love this battle sequence so much

THE MUSIC!!!!!

Im watching it again

Adora’s laugh before she says “I AM She ra” 😍

Theyre both ex Horde soldiers oh shit!! One so trusting and one so fearful, so closed off to anyone

“I’m not gonna run anymore. I face my problems head on.” fuck yeah!!!

Netflix referring to Bow Glimmer and Adora as the “squad” omg

-rewatching the fight scene from 18:30-

diD HUNTARA JUST ROAR LIKE A LION?!

I love the repeating of lines to each other thats such a good trope too

“Thats mine!” ”Then come and take it.”

Also I like seeing Adora fight and pull off really cool moves but not like, flawlessly. Like her backflip- she almost falls. Or when she swings Huntara’s sword and it doesn whip out at first.

HUNTARA JUST ROARED AGAIN

ANOTHEr EXAMPLE OF THEIR MIRRORING IS WHEN HUNTARA HOLDS ADORA’S HEAD UP WITH HER SWORD AND THEN SHE RA DOES THE SAME

Thats totally foreshadowing the connection of their backgrounds with the Horde huh

The “‘You know about She ra?’ Heheh, I AM She ra” moment is so good okay I need to call it out again. The way she flashes her sword in front of her face? Amazing. Spectacular. Im gay-

The end of this episode be like: //women supporting women

Mara’s ship!! Dun dun dunnn

episode three

Edgy Catra in the Crimson Waste shot: ✔️

“Nothing matters anymore!” :(

Hey that place looks familiar!

Isnt Scorpia FROM here?? How does she not know anything about it??

“Maybe I should have skipped force captain orientation eh?” THIS RUNNING JOKE DKFNFK

Catra bitching about Hordak is a whole mood

CATRA HISSING AT THat FROG THING SHE PUSHED FROM THE COUNTER IM-

Wait satyr lady never said the second rule Prettyyy sure the second rule is that no one annoys Huntara, but shes not here! So what the hell are YOU gonna claim it is?

Catra’s monologue in the bar is everything

Catra stealing the jacket is such a ME move i see a leather jacket i go feral

Bow you’re such a nerd ily

Well duh the ship is empty its been looted for years

Do your She ra thing i bet thatll uncover something //wiggles eyebrows

Yeehaw! Look at that i was right

Its not haunted theres a repeated message echoing ..

Scorpia you’re gay

Also IM gay Catra in a jacket is 👌😩

HER ORDERING PPL AROUND AT KNIFEPOINT IS 👌👌👌😩

Aw look at Scorpia in her element

“Im gonna call you Kyle” KDHFKDJFJFK

Catra’s little smirk.. ️ ❤️️ Scorpia’s reaction is a whole mood

THEY DO MAKE A GOOD TEAM! ITS A GOOD THING SCORPIA FOLLOWED YOU HERE INTO EXILE H U H CATRA

That giant skull tho

OH ITS TIME IVE SEEN THIS CLIP

announcer voice: ITSSSSSS TONGUELASHOR

listen i know he’s an idiot with a dumb name and catra kicks his ass but i love me a buff lizard person,,

a broadcast.. oH ITS MARA HERSELF

“And I am gone.” sounds like.. something someone would say in a message if they didnt want to be looked for and found

Adora ... :(

Your frustration is so warranted

I wish i could give her answers

OH SHIT ITS MARA BUT NOT SHE RA-ED THIS TIME

“I was supposed to be the last.” wh..

Even Tongue Lashor’s insults are dumb

SCORPIA INTERRUPTING TONGUE LASHOR IS PRICELESS

HE EVEN SAYS “WHIP” KDHFJ

Catra mimicking his evil laugh..

Listen imma say it again (my scalie is showing) Tongue Lashor’s design is great

Catra just winked at Scorpia, yoURE GAAY

@ Mara’s dialogue.. that was uh. A Lot The biggest thing that jumps out to me is the fact that theyre in an empty dimension?? And the fact that Mar BROUGHT A WHOLE PLANET there. Thats some real power. Oh yeah, and LightHope is lying / working against the She ras / wants to bring destruction to the planet. But thats not surprising

Oh hey darts! Now who took the dart gun..

oh thats right!

Catra and Adora time baby

HEY ADORA

Adora is uh,, alone captured by Catra

This should be interesting

SCORPIA IN THE JACKET THOOOOO

“A toast to Scorpia” //clutches chest

Hey yall this is cute but reminder that cattadora is endgame

“When we go back” nahhh

Also fuck Catra heard that hologram??

CATRA BLUSHIG

“We could rule the Crimson Waste together!” Scorpia you are SO gay

“I have to go check on the prisoner” her ex

“Shadow Weaver left me for you..?” Uh fuck

She has tears in her eyes oh bby

I cant believe im already halfway through the season jfc fuck split seasons

(part two is up now!)

#She ra #She ra and the princesses of power #SPOP #SPOP season 3 #she ra season 3 #she ra season 3 spoilers #spop spoilers #spop season 3 spoilers #catradora #adora #catra #scorpia #glimmer #bow #huntara #the dragon speaks

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mobius-prime · 5 years ago

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147. Sonic the Hedgehog #82

Night of Chaos!

Writer: Bollers Pencils: Ribeiro Colors: Gagliardo

Those of you who've played the first Sonic Adventure will know exactly what's coming up and how it plays out. Sonic is hopping from rooftop to rooftop at night in Station Square when he spots police cars zooming around a corner and decides to follow them to see what's up. Of course, it's Chaos, against whom the cops' weapons are useless, as they so helpfully shout at us. The dialogue here is almost word for word taken from the English translation of the game, with the occasional thought bubble to expand Sonic's mental take on things. Luckily, the extraordinarily cheesy dialogue from the game fits in perfectly with Archie Sonic's already incredibly-cheesy-to-begin-with personality.

The fight plays out much like how the boss fight in the game does, with Chaos hopping from light pole to light pole and eventually melting back into a puddle of water and going down the drain, with Robotnik laughing at Sonic's efforts from above to defeat "Chaos, the god of destruction." Good thing the Freedom Fighters were here in the city to defend it from this thing, huh? Since it's so isolated, if they'd had no help, Station Square would have kind of been screwed against Chaos from the start.

Door to the Past

Writer: Bollers Pencils: Ribeiro Colors: Gagliardo

This story is where the adaption takes a sharp departure from the game. Knuckles, still wandering the ruins, suddenly finds a ball of light approaching him, and as it touches his forehead, he is swept into a vision by an echidna who introduces herself as Tikal, but definitely does not look like the Tikal we know (for some reason, throughout the arc, her appearance and even the spelling of her name is wildly inconsistent). Unlike in the game, where it takes the entire cast multiple days to coordinate with one another and decipher the strange visions they've all been receiving, Tikal just lays it all out on the table to Knuckles immediately.

Of course, the Mysterious Cat Country was named as such because, well, there were cats already living there, cats who weren't inclined to share their space. The Knuckles clan, the warrior caste for whom Knuckles is named (it has nothing to do with his pointy mutant knuckles, no, not at all) chose to stay and fight, while the scientists departed back for Albion. Tikal, the young daughter of their warchief "Pachamac" (a misspelling, they corrected it to Pachacamac in future issues), chanced upon the Mystic Ruins , meeting the peaceful chao who protected the "seven emeralds" (it's not elaborated on what kind of emeralds these were, since in this universe, the Master Emerald didn't exist yet, and there are more than seven Chaos Emeralds in the world), along with the mutated chao made of water called… Chao. Yeah, I guess he started being called Chaos later or something? Tikal quickly befriended the chao, understanding that they were peaceful and didn’t want to be disturbed by conflict, but in the midst of their war with the native cats, the members of her clan tried to invade the chao's land to seize the power of the seven emeralds for themselves, despite Tikal's pleas.

While Knuckles chases after the ball of light, we move over to Eggman, whose robots have all returned with various frogs for inspection. At first, like in the game, he's pissed that none of them have the right frog, but then gets to Gamma and becomes pleased as he sees the correct frog (though, again, how he knew that the piece of Chaos got into that one specific frog completely eludes me). After extracting the missing piece from Froggy…

…Chaos is whole once more, which means that this story took place before the first one. Man, why do all these issues have the various stories out of order like this? I mean, I guess they wanted to keep the general order of Sonic story first, then Knuckles, then the backup at the end, but still. While Eggman sends Chaos off to wreak some havoc, we head back to the Mysterious Cat Country, where the cat queen continues to try to interrogate her captives, certain they're planning an attack on her people. Instead of reassuring her that they are not, in fact, trying to invade her land, Vector decides to just start mouthing off for no reason.

First of all, "crap" is not a swear word. Second of all, that's cannibalism. And third of all, Locke has arrived to demand the release of the Chaotix and Julie-Su, or else he's willing to restart the war that he claims the cats started all those years ago! Wait, Locke, what the hell? The cats hardly started the war - if anything, it was the echidnas arriving and trying to colonize an already-inhabited land that started the war. But then again, we already knew the echidnas were pompous colonialists who only care about themselves.

Double-Crossed Circuits

Writer: Bollers Pencils: Ribeiro Colors: Gagliardo

In keeping with the theme of not putting these stories in any logical order, this story takes place both before, during, and after the previous one. It's also narrated very bizarrely, with most dialogue avoided and replaced instead with textboxes that simply inform us, in second person no less, what's going on at any given time. This isn't the first time Karl has opted for this style of storytelling, but I maintain that it just doesn't work as well as simply showing what's happening, and clashes especially hard with comics as a form of media, given that they're all about showing instead of telling.

Anyway, it's time to properly meet E-102 Gamma! It was built by Eggman along with several other similar robots also named after Greek letters, and trained for battle against robotic copies of Eggman's various enemies, including, of course, Sonic. Gamma completes the obstacle course with ease, and is then sent out with its fellows on the quest to get! that! frog!

Of course, we know it returned with the correct one, and Eggman, angry at the rest of the robots for failing, disintegrates them all before Gamma's eyes. He then orders Gamma, who is feeling the beginnings of emotion at witnessing its fellow robots' "deaths," to go to the prison block and get the bird from Amy, who's been imprisoned there since her capture last issue.

You see what I mean about this weird style of narration? I mean, I guess you could say Karl is trying to avoid just lifting all the dialogue wholesale from the game, but this is objectively worse, as well as being weirdly confusing to anyone who isn't already familiar with the original scene. Anyway, Gamma straight up rips the door off its hinges to allow Amy and the bird to escape, and then walks away, with the narration informing us that Gamma is now sentient due to this decision. Uh… okay then, I guess? Next up we have a Super Special, which contains the bulk of the adaption, so strap in for that.

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #sth 82 #writer: karl bollers #pencils: nelson ribeiro #colors: frank gagliardo

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imagitory · 6 years ago

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Tory Ranks the HP Films! [review]

Hi everybody! So I was chatting with a good friend of mine the other day about our favorite films in the Harry Potter series, and...well, the whole discussion got me thinking, so I decided to jot down my personal rankings!

I’ll just discuss the eight films based on the original books for this, but if you want my thoughts on the Fantastic Beasts series so far, you can read this FB-centric response and this review for CoG! These rankings are unique to me, but will be affected both by how much I personally enjoy the movie as well as how well it adapted its respective book. Hope you enjoy -- if you want, feel free to like and reblog, and of course reply/reblog with your own thoughts about the HP films!

8) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I’ll be honest, I was torn between this film and the one just before it as my personal worst, but in the end, I had to acknowledge that this one, out of all of the films, was just the least interesting of the lot, not just from a story perspective but also in the visuals and music. Everything was so gray and murky and dark: the only faintly creative visuals I really remember from this film were the inky effects in the Pensieve scenes (which didn’t match up with the established continuity of previous Pensive scenes) and the juxtaposition of a bird’s cage in the corner of a shot where Draco is walking down the hallway, and the only music track I remember liking at all was the choral piece In Noctem. Plus the plot itself was pretty tedious, as the filmmakers apparently decided that the book’s romantic side-stories were more worthy of focus than the main villain’s entire backstory. I mean, come on -- Harry making goo-goo eyes at Ginny and Ron being a complete idiot when it comes to the girls in his life is somehow more interesting than Dumbledore and Harry learning about the Gaunt family, Tom Riddle’s past as a neglected, but vindictive bully, and Riddle turning objects that meant something to him into Horcruxes, which sets up the Golden Trio’s quest to find them in the next book/movie? Good call on that one. Speaking of Riddle, the two new actors that were cast to portray him in this movie are also easily the worst performers in the entire series, and the completely unsubtle, black-and-white characterization of Riddle in the script didn’t do them any favors. After how much Voldemort was built up in the films, Riddle being so ridiculously obvious in how evil he is makes everyone around him (like Dumbledore and Slughorn) look like an idiot for not seeing he was bad news from the start. This film makes me a lot less angry than the #7 slot, partly because HBP is my least favorite of the books, but it also prompts just about no positive feelings either, and if there’s anything Harry Potter has never been, it’s “boring.”

7) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

*dodges knives* LOOK. I know this is a lot of people’s favorite HP film, and I understand why. From a cinematography perspective, it’s easily one of the best. It’s very pretty to look at. The shot composition is excellent. The visuals are creative and striking. But all of that beauty is at the cost of the story and characters. Not only does Hermione become even more of an idealized Action Girl, losing even more of her wonderful, three-dimensional book characterization and flaws -- not only does the film break away from every bit of continuity established from the previous installments or even within its own film, from changing the layout of Hogwarts and the students’ uniforms to having Harry constantly light up his wand with magic no problem only ONE SCENE before getting punished for using magic outside of school -- not only does it make no sense unless you’ve read the book, given that the script just assumes that you’ll remember details like Lupin and Snape having seen the Marauder’s Map, which explains how they knew Sirius and the Golden Trio were in the Shrieking Shack -- not only does it add things that I don’t like and really don’t think fit in the established Wizarding World like the shrunken heads and a slide projector being used in Snape’s DADA class -- not only did this film depict its characters blatantly showing off their supposedly “secret” magical artifacts with no repercussions, such as Harry under his Invisibility Cloak stealing a lollypop from Neville and whamming through a crowd of people and Hermione not even trying to hide the Time Turner around her neck -- not only did Ron lose one of his best scenes in the entire series, where he stands on his broken leg yelling at Sirius that he’d have to kill him and Hermione to get to Harry, and was downgraded to the point that he pretty much became dead weight -- not only did Lupin’s werewolf form look more like a half-bald monkey than the hulking, terrifying mass I’d wanted to see -- not only did Lupin and Sirius talk to Harry about Lily almost exclusively and barely mention their best friend James -- not only was everything Crookshanks did except him chasing Scabbers left out -- not only did the script never explain that Lupin, Pettigrew, Sirius, and James were the Marauders and the reason behind the pen-names -- not only did the film originally MISSPELL “MOONY” WHEN IT WAS WRITTEN DOWN IN THE FRIGGIN’ BOOK -- but this film ruined the best part of the entire story. The descent into the Shrieking Shack and the revelation of who really betrayed the Potters took three whole chapters to unravel because of how much information was revealed and how many emotions were packed into it...yet the film decided to spend less than TEN MINUTES on that three-chapter-long plot twist. TEN. And most of the exposition dialogue was shouted haphazardly across the room in about five minutes of that time. It’s honestly little wonder to me that director Alfonso Cuaron originally hadn’t wanted to read the book before making the film and had to be convinced to do so -- he clearly was more interested in putting his own stamp on the story than respecting what was already there in the books or even in the previous films, and although yes, the darker tone and more unique visual style did help the series in the long run, I just wish that it hadn’t been done in the adaptation of my favorite book in the series. Azkaban deserved a more faithful adaptation than this.

6) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

In a way I almost feel bad for the filmmakers trying to adapt this book. GoF is the longest in the entire series and arguably has the most subplots and tiny important details casually slipped into the text out of all of them, which would be difficult to adapt in a three-act feature film. I can’t help but feel it should’ve gotten the halfsies treatment the way Hallows did, given that it would’ve been difficult to fit every little important thing into one movie, even a long one. That being said, though...yeah, this film really is incoherent unless you’ve read the books. How do you even try to tell Goblet’s story if you’re going to cut out all of the Crouch family’s backstory? Answer: by revealing the twist ending in the first ten minutes by showing Crouch, Jr. is alive and turning him into an uninteresting, one-dimensional character, I guess. David Tenant is a wonderful actor and he could’ve been a wonderful Crouch, Jr., but in this adaptation he had just about nothing to work with. Then of course they also cut out Winky, Dobby, Hermione’s SPEW movement, the Quidditch World Cup game, Bertha Jorkins, Ludo Bagman, Percy Weasley joining the Ministry, the Weasley twins and Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, Rita Skeeter getting her comeuppance, and Crouch, Jr. getting Kissed by dementors before Fudge could hear his testimony about Voldemort’s return. I also wish they hadn’t turned Cedric, Viktor, and Fleur into such one-note, one-dimensional characters either -- Robert Pattinson got the most to work with out of the three actors, but the characters still seem very shallow compared to their book-originals, and considering Viktor and Fleur get no further development in later films, their characters pretty much start and end with the little material their actors get in this movie. Even Voldemort’s depiction I’m somewhat torn about: I like Ralph Fiennes as an actor, but I had sort of hoped he’d look a little scarier and that he’d have red eyes the way he had when he was attached to Quirrel’s head in Sorcerer/Philosopher and as described in the book. As much as I sympathize with how difficult the task was to adapt this story, Warner Bros. still could’ve made a longer movie and kept in more of the stuff needed to understand what was going on. Still, there are some good visuals in this film and I like a lot of the new music tracks, too.

5) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

The Hallows films overall I sort of just see as “okay,” mainly because they and Prince’s adaptation are so dark that at some points I think they forget what made the stories so likable in the first place -- namely, the characters. Sure, we can’t have as much humor here, but where’s the love? Where are the distinct personalities, where’s the friendship? And really, one of the few answers this film gave was in that OOC Harmione dance scene, which...yeah, not only did it have no romantic chemistry (which I suppose I should be glad of, as that would be even more OOC than the scene already is), but it also had very little friendship chemistry too. It was just awkward and stilted to watch. Even Ron’s return wasn’t as strong because the film adaptations went so far out of their way to marginalize Ron and not make him an important part of the trio...so yeah, contrasted to the book where Harry and Hermione mourned Ron’s absence, the awkward dance scene attempting joy and failing miserably just falls even more flat. There are some good moments, like Luna and Harry interacting at the wedding and the break-in at the Ministry, and there’s a lot less stuff cut from this film than in others, but there’s also a lot less that I can say I loved in this film than in others.

4) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Part 2 is pretty even with Part 1 for me, as it doesn’t cut as much out but also left a lot to be desired. Because of the lack of explanation about what things Voldemort would turn his Horcruxes into, Harry has to rely solely on deux-ex-machina visions to tell him what to do next, Harry breaking the Elder Wand felt like such a cop-out, and the Battle of Hogwarts, although not bad exactly, really never showed off the scale of the damage and loss the way it could’ve. Fred’s death isn’t even given its proper screen time! But at the same time, I found more memorable scenes in this movie -- the Room of Requirement confrontation, McGonagall taking charge before the Battle of Hogwarts, the ending at Platform 9 3/4 that actually used the Leaving Hogwarts track from the first movie the way I’d dreamed that they would when I first read the book -- and of course every moment of Alan Rickman as Severus Snape. Yes, Rickman portrayed Snape as a much more likable, much less gray character than he was in the books, but he was still wonderful to watch every second he was on screen.

3) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone

I acknowledge nostalgia might play more of a role in my judgement of the first two films, given that I was a young teenager when they first came out...but I’m sorry, aesthetically, Columbus’s films were the most true to their source material. The darkness didn’t really start in the books until GoF, and since Cuaron jumped the gun on the darkness in Azkaban, we lost that gradual fading of the light from the original novels. And really, the Wizarding World was charming! It still is! And with the departure of Columbus, we kind of lost that charm in future films, even during the parts that were supposed to be less dark and gritty. We never got it back, and yes, one could see that as somewhat reminiscent of childhood innocence -- but I disagree, charm can be appreciated at any age. Even in my darkest days, I still could appreciate it. If anything, charm in the midst of despair and gloom became all the more precious. But regardless...Sorcerer/Philosopher is one of the most true to its subject matter -- it really does depict things almost exactly the way I’d imagined them while reading the book. The score John Williams wrote for the first two films in particular made everything feel just as magical as when I was first reading the first two books, and as the films went on, we lost that recurring score that favored the reuse of certain themes to instill various emotions: instead we just got individual themes for each film that were rarely used outside of that particular film. But I acknowledge Sorcerer/Philosopher doesn’t take nearly enough risks, the details cut so as to compress scenes sometimes create plot holes (like Snape protecting the Stone and supposedly bullying Quirrell to find out how to get past his defense, even though both their challenges were not included in the film), the CGI is pretty outdated, and a lot of the child actors were at the beginning of their learning curve. Really, the only stand-out performances among the child actors in my opinion were Tom Felton and Rupert Grint -- Dan had his moments, but Emma and a lot of the more minor actors like Devon Murray as Seamus at points sounded like they were acting in a school play. And when you placed those kids alongside great adult actors like Robbie Coltrane and Richard Harris, it could be a bit jarring. Still, I’d be lying if I said I don’t really enjoy watching this movie, almost as much as I did when I watched it as a kid so many times that after a while I could recite the entire script from memory.

2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I was fortunate enough to see this film opening night with my mum and best friend at the time, and really, Chamber just built on Sorcerer/Philosopher’s cheesy yet charming, book-loyal formula. Like the previous film, there are some important details cut and not that many risks taken from a visual or film-making perspective and the CGI often doesn’t look that great (Dobby in particular hasn’t aged that well), plus some of the scenes aren’t that well-directed (i.e. the fight between the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams lacked any real anger or energy, and even the Dueling Club scene was oddly slow and lacked excitement)...but even so, I think the child performances are better here, and we got a lot more scenes with excellent adult actors like Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy, Julie Walters as Molly Weasley, and Kenneth Branagh as Lockhart. I also laugh a lot watching this one! Lockhart gets a lot of his great, funny lines from the book, but young Rupert Grint also shows a great talent for comedy that, I must be honest, is kind of lost after Chamber, as he becomes less of a distinct character who happens to say funny things and more of just a wimpy, tag-along sidekick who’s often made the butt of a joke. Even now, my mum and I smile at the memory of watching the film in theaters and laughing and cheering with the rest of the audience when Lockhart cries, “Amazing! This is just like MAGIC!”

1) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

This film adaptation is based off my second favorite book in the series, and as much as it cut from that book, I think it overall captured the spirit of the book the best out of the series while also making a visually distinctive film. Yes, it cut out Marietta Edgecombe and the moral grayness her inclusion represented, Sirius’s passive-aggressiveness, pettiness, and cruelty toward Kreacher and the depth that it gave him as a flawed father figure, Harry’s lashing out at Dumbledore and how real it made both Sirius’s loss and Harry’s grief, Percy’s alienation of his family and the exploration of the cost of standing by one’s ideals, Neville and his family at St. Mungo’s and the pathos and complexity it gave his character, Umbridge running Hagrid out of Hogwarts and McGonagall being injured and how much that cut Harry off from the Order, and Umbridge’s revelation that she’d sent the dementors after Harry and how neatly it tied up all the loose ends. But at the same time, I hated Umbridge in this film just as much as I did in the books. I felt the sorrow of Sirius’s loss just as much as I did in the books. I felt the satisfaction at seeing Neville grow through joining the D.A. and becoming a more three-dimensional, heroic character despite his shortcomings just as I did in the books. I felt for Trelawney when she was being forcibly evicted from Hogwarts just as much as I had in the books. I felt the triumph of the Weasley twins’ rebellion against Umbridge just as much as I did in the books. I felt the camaraderie of Dumbledore’s Army just as much as I did in the books. I felt the love that Harry had for his friends and believed in both his hopelessness and his desire to fight for them just as much as I did in the books. And yet there were also film-only additions that I really liked -- the emphasis on Harry’s friends being the reason he resists Voldemort’s control, the montage of Umbridge sinking her Inquisitorial claws into Hogwarts, the music written to accompany the scenes at the Ministry and featuring Umbridge, Sirius punching Lucius Malfoy in the face and calling Harry “James” by accident. Even in a visual sense, it wasn’t too dark and gritty, but not too rosy and colorful either. Yes, this film had dark moments, but it never lost sight of what the original book series was about -- not the doom and gloom, not the action and thrills, not the drama and intrigue, not even the flights of fancy, but the love. What even are our heroes fighting for, if not the ones and things they love? Why do we even care? Why would we even watch any of these films at all, if not because of the love? In Order, I never forgot what Harry was fighting for. It balanced out the doubt and fear with kinship and nobility, just as I felt the books always had and the films often didn’t. So as many important details are shaved off, it at least still felt like Harry Potter. Not perfect, but hey, what adaptation is?

#oh boy here i go #analysis #reviews #opinion #harry potter #harry potter and the sorcerer's stone #harry potter and the philosopher's stone #harry potter and the chamber of secrets #harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban #harry potter and the goblet of fire #harry potter and the order of the phoenix #harry potter and the half-blood prince #harry potter and the deathly hallows #harry potter and the deathly hallows part 1 #harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2

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kanasmusings · 6 years ago

Text

[Translation] Various infinit0 Tweets - [05/01/19 - 05/31/19]

Heya~! Infinit0 has posted a lot of new tweets over the past months that I haven’t seen translated so I’m compiling them here ^^ I guess this is just because I’ll be posting the subbed versions of their radio broadcasts soon so this is just something to help get to know the unit better~

I also translated most of their magazine interviews so please look forward to those as well! They’re on queue~

☆ From Heisei to Reiwa ☆ (May 01, 2019)

ROA: The Reiwa Era has started~! Congratulations! I’ll say this about the opening of the new era from the bottom of my heart! I love it!! Let’s work hard to overcome the new era, too, shall we~?!!

REI: You’re pretty energetic even in the new era (laughs). Of course, I’m ready to accompany you whenever. ♪

ROA: That’s the way! ✧

#Thank you, Heisei #Nice to meet you, Reiwa

T/N: The Heisei Era in Japan (started January 8, 1989) ended on April 30th this year and they’re currently in the Reiwa Era ^^

More under the cut, enjoy~!

☆ I want a pet 1 ☆ (May 01, 2019)

ROA: Our dorm allows pets, right? I want to own one, too~

REI: Like what?

ROA: Hm... A cat... no wait, a dog? A hedgehog? A ferret’s cute, too! And I’ve always dreamt of having a talking bird when I was a kid, y’know?

ROA: Iguanas and reptiles seem cool, too...! Oh, and things like mysterious snakes, too!

REI: This is feeling closer to a zoo now... (chukles)

ROA: Eh-he-he~

REI: Though, the rarest animal of them all would be the room’s owner.

ROA: Yup, yup~ A rare hot guy called Mikaze Roa is-- Hey~!

#infini #Overflowing Animal Dream

T/N: “I want a pet 1 and 2″ are actually videos on Twitter www I just translated the dialogues ^^

<------------------------->

☆ I want a Pet 2 ☆ (May 02, 2019)

ROA: Rei...!

REI: Hm?

ROA: I’ve decided on the pet I want to have the most.

REI: Oh? What is it?

ROA: A penguin!

REI: Penguin...

ROA: Yup, a penguin!

REI: I wonder how old Roa-kun is~

ROA: (in a childish voice) I just turned 25 this year~! (normal voice) Wait, hey... You’re treating me like a kid.

REI: I mean, you did give such a childish dream and choice so...

ROA: I mean, there are actually guys living below us (our dorms) who keep one for a pet, y’know?!

REI: What... did you say...?!

ROA: Plus, it’s not just a simple penguin! I heard it came from hell, y’know? **

ROA: It can even go to the hot springs! Isn’t that amazing?!

REI: Hm... Ah, the one related to Procella’s Shun-kun?

ROA: Yeah!

REI: The Demon Lord who’s very unpredictable and can do anything? I’ve heard a lot of rumors about him recently.

ROA: Rei-san! I want to own a hell penguin, too! Let’s go scout one from the spirit world, okay?

REI: Oh, it’s time for work.

ROA: Rei-san!?

REI: See you later, Roa~

ROA: Rei-san!!

#infini #It seems like he’s decided on a pet he wants.

T/N: He’s referring to You’s Magellan XD

<------------------------->

☆ Weak to Mornings ☆ (May 07, 2019)

REI: Roa, wake up already.

ROA: Hm...? (groans) 20 more... hours...

REI: (smiles) Idiot, if you sleep for 20 more hours then the day will end.

ROA: Then, that means I can sleep more~

REI: How long do you plan on sleeping?

REI: Come on, get out of your futon... (Rei pulls the futon out from under Roa)

ROA: Ahhh! My futon! Wait-- It’s already this late?! For real?! I have to hurry, I have to hurry...!

REI: You’re so energetic in the morning, Roa. It’s okay, you’ll make it at that rate.

#infini #Let’s do our best today, too.

<------------------------->

[May 09, 2019]

It seems like today is #Ice Cream Day. We made Rei-san and Roa-san colored cotton candy in the machine near our workplace.

Tomorrow is infinit0 Radio’s 12th broadcast and it starts at 11 PM. The both of them will be answering questions about love! Please look forward to it. (by Tsukiyama)

#It’s not ice cream #Infinit0 Radio

----------

By the way, their image colors are:

Rei-san --> Black, blue Roa-san --> White, orange

Please use this as reference for the lights during the live. (by Tsukiyama)

<------------------------->

☆ Radio Letter Introduction - Extra Part ☆

REI: “Good evening, I always enjoy listening to the broadcast at night. I have a question. Do you both drink alcohol? How much can you handle? I imagine that Rei-san can hold his alcohol more though...” That was from Cocoa-san. Thank you for your letter.

ROA: Thank you very much~!

ROA: Hm... We both drink but Rei’s stronger, I think. I can hold mine pretty well though.

REI: I think you’re pretty strong, too, though.

ROA: Really?

REI: I guess I got stronger because I felt like I had the responsibility to bring everyone home safely after a drinking party.

ROA: Ah... Thank you for your hard work always during those times...

REI: Hm? It happens so often I don’t know exactly what time you’re talking about--

ROA: Ah! Young guys are prone to making bad decisions once they’re able to start drinking, right?! People like that often remember how to handle themselves afterwards.

REI: Don’t divert the conversation by saying something nice.

ROA: Ehehe~

REI: Everyone, please enjoy drinking alcohol moderately once you turn 20, okay?

#infini #infini Boys

<------------------------->

☆ It’s hot today ☆ (May 24, 2019)

ROA: Uwohhhh... It’s hot! It’s too hot!

REI: The heat’s giving it its best, huh~ (laughs) Maybe you’re feeling hotter because you’re fretting too much?

ROA: That’s just it, huh~ ; But, this feeling of blood kinda rushing to your head... isn’t bad at all~

REI: I feel you but at the same time I don’t think I understand (laughs).

#Let’s be cautious of getting heat stroke, okay?

<------------------------->

☆ It’s June starting today ☆ (May 31, 2019)

ROA: Oh man… It’s already been half a year… This is bad…

REI: ? But, Roa, you’ve been working so vigorously, playing all you want, and have been feeling pretty fulfilled the past half a year so, I think there’s really nothing you should be worried about, you know?

ROA: That’s just the thing. I wonder what… Either way, doesn’t it make you feel a bit anxious knowing that there’s only half a year left?

# It happens sometimes, huh.

PART 2:

ROA: Rei-san, are you the type who doesn’t feel that way?

REI: Maybe so. I don’t really feel the need to rush.

ROA: That must be nice~! That kind of relaxed adult feeling. Do you even feel rushed in any way, Rei? Aside from that one time when Shu got super angry.

REI: I guess I do feel anxious when you cry so hard, or even during that time when Takaaki was sulking in bed.

ROA: … Somehow, I’m so sorry, everyone.

<------------------------->

VAZZROCK RT-->

MAMIYA: Back then… I had a fight with Shiki, huh… I suddenly remembered…

NAO: WH-WHAT…! A fight between two people with the purple color image sounds kinda awesomely dangerous…!

MAMIYA: Shiki did make up for it by giving me pudding though.

YUMA: The way he settles fights is kind of cute, isn’t it? (Laughs)

# None of them remember what the fight was about.

<------------------------->

SQ RT-->

SHIKI: It’s important for the adult to step down first during a fight even if both parties are in the wrong, isn’t it?

SHU: But, if my memory serves me right… The reason why Takaaki got mad in the first place was because you did something reckless, Shiki.

SHIKI: You don’t have to remember that part.

SHU: Fufufu.

# The end

==END==

#tsukipro #infinit0 #infinit0 translations #tweet translations #my translations #these two are married i swear

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spooky-scary-imagines · 6 years ago

Note

Hi :) would you write one where ChopTop met the reader the the radio station along with Strech*idk if i spelled it right* but the reader dressed similar to him and was in a band herself makeing ChopTop love struck and just his stuttering getting worst and forgeting what to say witch the reader finds cute maybe it would get slightly nsfw to to the ebd but you can pick its ok if its just fluff :3 *sorry if its to long*

((Sorry this took so long! Gotta love my boy Chop-Top and this prompt not only gave me an excuse to rewatch his intro scene but it also seems super fun! It is a challenge to figure out dialogue for him tho because he’s so bizarre in all the best ways. This one didn’t end up being too romantic but I’ve been thinking about maybe writing a continuation for this just cause there’s so much more I can do with it. So let me know if any of y’all are interested! Tagging: @i-cant-get-with-it

Chop Top meets hippie s/o @ the radio station:

It’s been a pretty rough week at the station. Your good friend Vanita had gotten a terrible call-in the other day. Initially she thought it was a prank, as the men had been obnoxious all day, but even she couldn’t ignore the terrible screaming and shill grating of metal on metal. Not when she saw that article in the paper that seemed to match the call-in. She had told you about the plan she devised with some old sheriff, about playing the tape over the radio. To you it seemed like a bad idea and a great way to put a giant target on her back, but she was insistent that she had to do it and make a difference. Despite your worries, you couldn’t just leave her alone, so you decided to stay with her after that night’s broadcast.

Tonight had done nothing to ease your concerns, angry callers had been cursing out the station and since Stretch first aired the tape. L.G. seemed to be the most upset by it, talking about how much trouble Vanita was going to get into, though anyone with eyes could tell how soft he was on her. Sadly, it didn’t seem like the feelings were returned quite the same way. At least not yet, you thought, as you watched her turn down his offer to grab some coffee with him. Guess you two were sticking around for this “Lefty” guy.

Shortly after L.G. left, you heard the phone ring. You went to reach for it, but Stretch got there first. “Hello?…Hello?…Lefty?” You could guess from her side of the conversation that she was being met with silence. You raised an eyebrow and she looked at you, equally confused. The mysterious caller hung up. “What the hell was that all about?” you asked.

“No clue,” Stretch shrugged, “We get some weird callers sometimes, but-.” As if on a cue, you two heard a small slam from the other side of the station. Vanita’s eyes flicked to you. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

Stretch had been gone for a suspicious amount of time, when you decided you needed to go after her. You stood in the doorway of the hall leading to the lobby. From there, you could hear Stretch and a strange male voice, talking manically. “Hi, I know what you’re thinking. This is weird. Hope I can handle it.“ You peered out into the lobby, there you saw Vanita nervously backed against her desk, across from her was an odd man. He appeared to be in his 30s, dressed in patched and campy hippie clothes, the odd look topped off with a shappy mop of black hair and lavender Lennon specs. Though a somewhat tacky outfit, it reminded you of the way you and your bandmates dressed, especially when hanging out around at festivals. He started getting up and moving towards Stretch, and you walked out from the doorframe. Both sets of eyes looking your direction.

“Uhhh, hey man…what’s up?” you asked, awkwardly trying to redirect him. He turned to you, and looked you up and down, face unreadable.

“Wh-Who the hell’re you? I thought it was j-just the DJ?”

“Well it isn’t space cadet! Who the hell are you?”

“I-I-I’m just a fan,” he turned back to Stretch, “Me and my little brother, Bubba, we listen to this show e-every night.” He turned back to you with a sick grin, “Music…is my life.”

You smiled at that, “Oh? I dig it. I’m in a band myself.”

His eyes went wide at that, and the barely contained manic energy in him seemed to ramp up, “O-Oh yeah? Wh-What’re you like? Something h-h-heavy? Like-like Iron Butterfly!”

You chuckled. Despite him being kind of a freaky-deaky dork, you had to admit the spaz was kind of endearing and a little cute. “Kinda. We’re more like Vanilla Fudge or Quicksilver Messenger Service than anything.”

“Far-Out! So-”

“I hate to interrupt,” Stretch cut in, “But the station is closed for the night.”

The man turned back to her, a strange glint in his eye and a sick grin that made you shudder. “Well, y’see, I wa-wanted to phone in my request but, but I al-al-always get too nervous, y’know?” He paused for a reaction before continuing, “But, well, since I’m here. In-In flesh-and-blood…I figured I could just give you my request now right!

Stretch looked to you for help and you just lifted your hands in a shrug-like gesture. “Uh, sure, sure. You can tell me your request and then you need to leave.”

The man chuckled, and started heating up the coat hanger he was holding with an old rainbow lighter. “Al-Alright…How about Cold Stone Fever from uh, Humble Pie! Or uh…” he picked at his scalp, ”In Da Vidda da Gadda babey. Heh heh yeah…” he turned to you, “Real, uh, heavy stuff, y’know.” You hid a laugh behind your hand, at his goofy smile and the fact that he got both song titles wrong.

Then that menace was back in his eyes, “Or…how about s-something like that, uh, Lefty r-request record you played today? How’d it go again?” You and Stretch’s eyes went wide as the man screamed and growled in mimicry of the terrible sounds of the attack. You looked at each other in mutual fear at this man standing between you and the exit. “Wh-What was that anyway? R-Rambo III soundtrack?” he chuckled at his own joke. “Could you play it again? Or, uh, m-maybe you co-could get me a copy!” He grinned, “You could both sign it. To-To-To a far out fan!”

He seemed to respond better to you so you spoke up, “We, uh, actually don’t have a copy. Sorry sir. But we could, er, play your other requests.”

Something dark passed over his face that you couldn’t quite place. He looked to the side in the records vault. “Hey, uh, is this where you keep the golden oldies? And mayb-” The rest of the sentence was cut off when the lights suddenly flipped on, revealing a horrifying giant wielding what looked like a chainsaw. You and Vanita screamed, she ran off towards the back rooms while you ducked out of the way into the far corner of the room behind and hid on the far side of the sofa. You heard the man from earlier hollering in pain and wailing at the giant to “Get the girl!” You saw the giant run after Vanita through the door, and you peered out from your hiding place. You watched the man from before scream and clutch at his head. “He dented my plate! My brain is burning! Nam flashback! Nam flashback! Leatherface, you bitch, I’ll…Oh just look what you did to my Sonny Bono wig. Oh, God damn it!”

You listened to the man’s cries of pain and rage from your hiding place as you resisted the urge to help him. Judging from what you could make out from his rant, he was clearly with the man trying to kill Stretch. Oh god…Vanita…what have you gotten yourself into? He eventually managed to get to his feet and began to go through the records vault, muttering something about dogs hunting. You covered your ears and tried to block out the terrible sounds coming from behind the door leading to the recording area.

You heard a door open from the other side of the room. “Hey! What the shit?” L.G was back! Maybe he could get the police and everything would be okay.

“Lick my plate you dog dick!” the hippie yelled, flipping L.G. the bird. It would have been funny if the whole situation wasn’t so terrifying.

“What the fuck you think you’re doing in here, you crazy-looking little son of a bitch? Get out of here!” You wanted to scream at L.G. to run out of here and get help, that these guys were totally buggin and super dangerous. But you stayed quiet for fear of revealing your position. This turned out to be a lethal decision as the man lunged at L.G. brandishing a hammer. “Time for incoming mail!” he shrieked, slamming into hammer into L.G.’s skull, “Ho Chi Minh!” Over and over you heard the sickening thuds through your covered ears. You squeezed your eyes shut but you couldn’t pretend it just wasn’t happening. Hell, the same thing was probably happening to Stretch right now .

You didn’t even realize you were crying until you felt the warmth of the tears sliding down your face, but someone else did. You open your eyes to see the killer’s leering face less than a foot from your own, “H-H-Hey there, rock’n’roll b-bunny! T-th-th-thought I lost ya t-there.”

“Please, don’t kill me,” you sobbed, “I’m, like, really sorry for whatever’s making you upset.”

This seemed to make the man nervous, and he started picking twitchily at the edge of a metal plate embedded in his skull. “I-I…I ain’t g-gonna, er, kill you. J-Just…” he looked around the room frantically, as if trying to find a solution to his problem. He spied the hammer over by L.G.’s corpse and his face broke into a grin. He scrambled to grab it, whipped back around, and started getting closer to you, arms out ahead of him as if you were a spooked animal. And I guess in a way you were. “N-Now do-don’t move or-or nothing. It It ain’t gonna h-hurt.”

Your soft sobs turned into bawling, “NoNoNo Oh God PleasePleasePleasePlease Don’t do this Please don’t do this!”

You noticed some emotion flash across his face that you couldn’t figure out. “A-one and a-two and a-three!” and the hammer fell down on your skull. You collapsed, yet you kept fading in and out of consciousness. You heard footsteps coming through the door to the studio and what sounded like the two men having a one sided conversation. “Did you get her, Bubba? Did you get that bitch? She was my fave…but-but she knew! And now…nobody knows!…L-look what you did to my plate, you bitch!…Y-You got her? Di-Did you get her good?…Slap me five!

You heard footsteps coming closer but you couldn’t see what was happening as you felt yourself getting dragged over to a damp section of floor. “I got some too. Bonus bodies! Look at that beef,” you vaguely felt a slap against your thigh, but it was as if you were made of cotton. “Help me get it out of here!,” said the hippie as you felt yourself be hoisted onto the larger man’s shoulders.

You were tossed in what seemed like the back of a truck, though you were so dizzy it was hard to tell. Finally you succumbed to your head injury and passed out. The giant, Bubba, left to sit shotgun and only Chop-top stayed by, standing over you with a dopey look on his face. “Don’t wo-worry baby, we’ll b-be home soon,” he gave you a sloppy peck on the cheek and ran back around to the driver’s side. “Alright Bubba! Let’s blow this pop stand!” he yelled, and sped off back to where the rest of the family was waiting.

#YEE-FUCKING-HAW #chop-top sawyer #bubba sawyer #texas chainsaw massacre #slasher imagines #slasher

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